The Madras High Court in the case observed and has asked the State to respond to a plea moved wherein seeking rent-free accommodation for the teachers in schools and the colleges, which include both the government and the private. The division bench comprising of Justice CV Karthikeyan and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy in the case observed and has directed the State for filing of the their counter which being within a period of four weeks in the petition moved by one M Purushothaman, who being an advocate.
It has also been argued by Purushothaman in the case that the affordable housing being the basic essential need of teachers in order to have a peace of mind wherein it enable them to meaningfully impart education. Further, it has been contended by him that traditionally in the Gurukulam system, thus, the teachers or Gurus were also being provided with the amenities like land, materials, amenities and facilities by the society, rulers and aristocracy. The petition filed read as the providing rent housing to the hard work community involved in the very important task of nation building will ensure betterment of the Society and Country at large thereby furthering the right of the livelihood of the citizens of this Country guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.
Further, the petition filed in the case stated that though a lot of school promoters these days are real estate business people but they do not build even tiny sheds for their teachers who are being let alone use the excess funds for building housing accommodation. It has been pointed out by Purushothaman at how during the COVID-19 pandemic, many private school teachers were being forced in order to do the job of fee collecting agents and of the private school management who took advantage of the plight of teachers to pursue parents in order to pay fee.
It has also been submitted by him before the court that he in the case had given a representation for constituting a special scheme namely ‘Pradhan Mantri Gurukul Scheme’ which could include the grant to schools for construction of rent-free housing, the allotment of public land for construction of quarters, wherein it provides the subsidies to teachers to buy houses and the direction to banks and financial institutions to give interest to the free housing loan to teachers. However, no action has been taken on these representations with regards to Purushothaman.
It has also been stated in the plea the directions for considering his representation in the said regard. Therefore, it has also been argued by him to the court in order to direct the authorities for allotting public lands, provide subsidy and interest free housing loan for the teachers.
