The Patan High Court has ordered the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) not to padlock the shutters rented out by community schools until June 21.
Responding to a petition filed by Tulsi Prasad Agasti, a bench of Judge Lekhnath Paudel issued the short-term interim order on Wednesday. Agasti had filed the petition on Tuesday.
According to the high court’s information officer Arjun Prasad Acharya, the court has summoned both the petitioner and the defendants for discussion on June 21.
KMC has been padlocking shutters rented out by community schools since Sunday.
According to Govinda Prasad Sharma, chief of the Education Department of KMC, they have so far padlocked 340 shutters of 27 community schools.
Sharma said that the KMC has padlocked shutters and temporary structures rented out for commercial purposes. He added that the number will go up.
Sharma said that they started padlocking shutters as community schools were earning income by renting out places meant for educational activities.
According to the KMC’s data, 37 schools have rented out shutters or temporary structures built on their premises. Sharma said that all the shutters and temporary structures will be brought into use for educational activities.
According to Sasmit Pokharel, member of KMC Mayor Balen Shah’s secretariat, they had received complaints that lack of space in schools made it difficult to run educational programs but the schools never thought about utilizing the space they had.
