SRINAGAR: The Directorate Of School Education (DSEK) on Friday warned all recognised private schools to stop compelling parents to buy books, stationary items, and uniforms from a particular shop.
DESK in a circular said that said that directorate and its subordinate offices are receiving a lot of complaints from the parents against the private schools forcing them to buy certain items from shops recommended by them.
“The books prescribed by these schools should have been available in the open market. There are some more complaints from parents wherein it is said that a large number of books are being prescribed by the private school authorities for primary classes, which unnecessary burdens the tender minds and mars the creativity,” DESK said in a circular.
Further, some private schools are forcing parents to purchase extra books for classes 6th, 7th & 8th in addition to the books prescribed by JKBOSE which amounts to extra burden on the learning of students and goes against the recommendations of National Education Policy 2020 which advocates age appropriate burden free learning of students, the order reads.
The order further reads,” The schools by prescribing additional books are going against the guidelines which are not prescribed by the Board to which the schools affiliated not only flout the recommendations envisaged in Rule 8A of J&K School Education Rules, 2010 & revised guidelines of School Bag Policy, 2020 released by Department of School Education and Literacy Ministry of Education, Government of India, but also poses extra financial burden on parents.”
Resorting to such illegal practices by few private schools is against the ethics and norms/ guidelines issued by the Government from time to time.
Henceforth, all private schools shall notify through their websites the list of subjects and the books prescribed by the Board to which they are affiliated and no other subject or book shall be made mandatory. Under no circumstances, any school shall ask parents to buy books from a particular bookshop, it said.
“It is enjoined upon all the private recognized schools to desisit from compelling the parents to purchase books or uniforms from any particular shops and change of books thereof. Further, parents should be given wider choice to purchase of books or uniforms from the open market. Any deviation from these instructions, if noticed shall be viewed seriously and action will be taken as per the provisions of law which inter-alia includes de-recognition of schools, withdrawal of managing body,” the order said.
DESK directed all Chief Education Officers to constitute special monitoring teams involving cluster heads, Zonal Education Officers to verify the complaints received on account of sale of books and uniforms by the private schools/ prescribing additional books or pressing parents for purchase from any particular shop. Action taken in this regard shall be submitted to this Directorate on monthly basis.
Hyderabad: The fire at the Swapnalok Complex in Secunderabad occurred due to a short circuit and the fifth floor suffered extensive damage, the Telangana State Disaster Response and Fire Services officials found during their preliminary investigation.
“The corridor on the fifth floor was occupied with cardboard and other combustible material helping the fire spread rapidly. The electric ducts were covered with wooden doors as against required fire doors,” said the fire department officials.
During the inspection of the Swapnalok complex in Secunderabad done recently, the management was advised to rectify the deficits but they failed to comply, the officials pointed out.
Six persons died due to asphyxiation after getting stuck in an office on the fifth floor of the building. The deceased are V Shiva, 22, Triveni, 22, Vennela, 22, K Prameela, 22, B Shravani, 22 and Prashant, 23. The firefighters rescued 12 people using sky lifts.
Challenges to douse Swapnalok Complex fire:
Firemen faced a lot of problems while battling the fire as the available firefighting equipment was not in working condition, the door leading to the external staircase was locked and the firefighters had to break it open. The external staircase was filled with waste articles and debris. The setbacks at the building were used as vehicle parking leading to hindrance for the movement of the Bronto Sky Lift.
The fire department advised the owners of buildings to install fire fighting measures as per the national building code applicable to the type of building and occupation.
The fire fighting systems should be maintained periodically and checked daily if necessary. The larger business complexes or establishments should appoint fire safety officers with similar terms of security staff to take care of the fire safety systems and implement fire safety drills.
The department asked the building occupants to keep clear escape routes free of waste material. It asked the owners to ensure the setback areas are kept free of vehicles to allow firemen to work in case of a fire mishap.
The department said that after the Deccan Mall fire accident at Minister Road, a joint inspection was done of 1150 buildings and Greater Hyderabad and notices were issued to rectify deficiencies in fire safety norms.
Another 650 hazardous premises including industries, chemical godowns, scrap godowns and other hazardous premises was done in Cyberabad.
Law firms have been warned by their regulator that they should not act as “hired guns” to silence critics of the wealthy, amid a spate of allegations of abusive litigation by Russian oligarchs since the invasion of Ukraine.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has revealed that it is investigating 40 cases of alleged strategic lawsuits against public participation (Slapps). There are “significant concerns being raised about solicitors making meritless claims on behalf of oligarchs to stifle public discourse about corruption or money laundering”, it said in a report published this week.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has heightened scrutiny of the super-rich using litigation to try to silence critics and journalists reporting on allegations of corruption. That has in turn increased scrutiny by MPs and campaigners of British lawyers who act for wealthy foreign clients, including those subject to financial sanctions from the UK or its allies.
“Solicitors are not simply ‘hired guns’,” the SRA wrote. “That means they should not bring cases which are not properly arguable, bring excessive or oppressive proceedings, or act in a way which could mislead or take advantage of others during proceedings.”
The SRA also noted that lawyers have an obligation to report potential Slapps to the regulator. Its review of 25 firms found three instances where lawyers failed to report potentially abusive litigation.
One alleged Slapp case being investigating by the SRA is action by a London-based law firm on behalf of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Russian oligarch who runs the Wagner group, a notorious mercenary army. Wagner has been accused of human rights abuses and murdering civilians in Mali and Central African Republic, and it has taken an increasingly important role in Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine.
The SRA is investigating Discreet Law, a firm set up by the British lawyer Roger Gherson, in relation to a suit brought by Prigozhin against Eliot Higgins, a journalist and the founder of the Bellingcat journalism organisation, which had reported on his links to the Wagner group. The case was dismissed by the high court in London, and Higgins’s lawyers later complained to the SRA that this was a Slapp suit. Discreet Law stopped representing Prigozhin in March 2022, the Financial Times reported.
Discreet Law also acted in a libel action for Anar Mahmudov and Nargiz Mahmudova, the children of Eldar Mahmudov, a former Azerbaijani security minister. They tried to sue a Spanish journalist and five Spanish news outlets for defamation over “allegations about the origins of the family’s wealth”. A London judge said the court did not have jurisdiction to hear the claim.
Prigozhin is not the only Russia-linked oligarch under UK sanctions who has been represented by Gherson, who also operates the firm Gherson Solicitors, which he founded in 1988. Gherson worked with Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven to challenge EU sanctions placed on them because of the Ukraine war.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also prompted increased scrutiny of other services on offer from UK-based legal advisers. British MPs and transparency campaigners have raised concerns about abuse of “golden visa” schemes – which typically allow wealthy investors to apply for citizenship in return for investments. In the UK, the government’s “golden visa” scheme was targeted by people with suspected criminal links as well as 10 Russian oligarchs who were later subjected to sanctions, a government review disclosed last month.
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Gherson is also linked to Discreet Advisory Services, a Monaco-based company offering advice to overseas clients that includes “secondary citizenship” services, which offer very wealthy clients the chance to apply for visas for different countries. OpenDemocracy first reported the link to the Monaco company.
A spokesperson for Discreet Law said: “As you will appreciate, as lawyers we are unable to disclose confidential information relating to our former clients. It is public knowledge that Discreet Law LLP acted for Mr Prigozhin and our position is that at all times we complied fully with our legal and professional obligations.”
A spokesperson for Gherson Solicitors LLP said: “As lawyers, we are unable to disclose confidential information about the legal services that we have provided to our clients.”
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
