'TN govt will be held responsible for untoward incident'

The Madras high court on Monday said there would be no holiday for schools and colleges on Tuesday and warned Tamil Nadu government that it would be held responsible for any untoward incident and breakdown of law and order in connection with agitations against the conviction of All India Dravida Munetra Kazhagam supremo Jayalalithaa.

"There shall be no holiday on October 7 and all schools and colleges shall function as usual. The state government and its instrumentalities are directed to see that the schools and colleges in Tamil Nadu function smoothly and no untoward incidents shall take place and are also directed to ensure public safety by controlling the law and order situation," the bench said in its interim order.

“We make it clear that should any untoward incidents take place, the state government will be held responsible," it said.

The Karnataka high court will hear Jayalalithaa's plea seeking immediate bail and suspension of her four-year sentence in the disproportionate assets case. The high court vacation bench had on October 1 deferred to October 7 hearing on pleas of Jayalalithaa and her close aide Sasikala and her relatives V N Sudhakaran and Elavarasi, also convicted in the case, to be taken by a regular bench after the end of Dasara vacation.

A Madras high court division bench, comprising Justices S Vaidyanathan and R Mahadevan, gave the warning to government in a special sitting while hearing two petitions filed by R S Bharathi, Dravida Munetra Kazhagam organising Secretary and one by K Balu, a lawyer who is also President of Advocates Forum for Social Justice.

The petitions were filed in connection with a circular issued by the Federation of Associations of Private Schools, alleging they were constrained to declare October 7 as a holiday due to 'political pressure' pursuant to the conviction and imprisonment of Jayalalithaa in an illegal assets case.

Bharati sought to declare the announcement by the Federation to close down schools and colleges tomorrow or any other date as illegal and unlawful and to direct authorities concerned to act against such schools which close down the institutions.

Private schools in the state had earlier in the day withdrawn their decision to remain closed tomorrow in protest against the sentencing of Jayalalithaa in the disproportionate assets case in the wake of strong opposition from different quarters, including politicians and educationists.

Revoking their earlier decision, the Federation said the schools would reopen after Puja holidays tomorrow. It maintained that the decision was withdrawn due to the fact that many schools had scheduled exams on Tuesday.