Allahabad HC Takes Suo Moto Cognisance After Hamirpur School Children March 5 km to Demand a Road
A Dainik Jagaran report of children agitating before the District Collector over a broken village road prompted the Allahabad High Court to register a PIL on 14 August 2026.
The Allahabad High Court took suo moto cognisance on 14 August 2026 of a news report published in Dainik Jagaran on 12 August 2026, which described young school children and their parents staging an agitation at the office of the District Magistrate, Hamirpur. The children's grievance was simple: there is no proper road connecting Village Chandupur, District Hamirpur, to their school. As part of the protest, the children walked 5 kilometres. A Division Bench of Chief Justice Arun Bhansali and Justice Kshitij Shailendra, sitting at the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, directed registration of the matter as a Civil Writ (PIL) styled In Re: Road to School, Hamirpur Vs. State of U.P. and others and issued notices to five State authorities.
What the Newspaper Report Disclosed
According to the Dainik Jagaran report, which the court annexed to its order, the District Collector indicated during the agitation that the responsibility for constructing the road rests with the Public Works Department. The Executive Engineer of the Public Works Department in turn admitted that approximately 1.5 kilometres of road is in bad condition. He attributed the stall to the absence of a No Objection Certificate from the Forest Department.
A proposal worth Rs. 1.81 crore has already been drawn up for the work. The Executive Engineer stated that construction would begin once the budget is received. That explanation, offered to protesting children, was what drew the bench's attention.
Why the Bench Intervened
The court did not treat the inter-departmental blame-shifting as an adequate response to the children's situation. The bench observed that the position of school-going children in a village having to agitate before the District Collector for work that is plainly the State's responsibility “cannot be countenanced.” That finding was the basis for invoking suo moto jurisdiction and registering the PIL.
The court did not elaborate further on the legal framework but the direction to register the matter under the PIL category signals that the bench views the absence of a school road as a public law concern, not merely an administrative lapse to be resolved at the district level.
Respondents Named and Notices Issued
The bench directed notice to five respondents:
- State of Uttar Pradesh
- District Magistrate, Hamirpur
- Principal Secretary, Public Works Department, U.P., Lucknow
- Executive Engineer, Public Works Department, Hamirpur
- Principal Secretary, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Department, U.P., Lucknow
The inclusion of the Principal Secretary of the Forest and Climate Change Department directly targets the NOC bottleneck identified in the news report. Similarly, naming the Executive Engineer of PWD Hamirpur alongside the Principal Secretary ensures that both the field officer who acknowledged the problem and his departmental superior are before the court.
State Counsel Directed to Accept Notice and Respond
Mr. Manish Goyal, Additional Advocate General, and Mr. A.K. Goyal, Additional Chief Standing Counsel were directed to accept notice on behalf of the respondents. The court asked them to respond to the factual situation as well as the steps being taken by the State to remedy the situation “without any loss of further time.”
The office was also directed to supply a copy of the order and the newspaper item to the learned Additional Advocate General and Additional Chief Standing Counsel.
Order
The Civil Writ (PIL) was registered on 14 August 2026 under the title In Re: Road to School, Hamirpur Vs. State of U.P. and others. The matter is listed as fresh on 24 August 2026. The Dainik Jagaran newspaper item dated 12 August 2026 is annexed to the order. The order was signed by Chief Justice Arun Bhansali and Justice Kshitij Shailendra.