Bengaluru: Between April 1, 2014 and June 30, 2015, the transport department has registered as many as 849 cases against 66 schools for violating the safety guidelines issued by the Supreme Court in their school vehicles according to data available with the transport department. The Supreme Court guidelines include mandatory speed governors, seating arrangements, compulsory first aid box etc.

Most of the cases are from Bengaluru and that too by the elite schools of the city! The list of erring schools include elite schools of Bengaluru city like Bishop Cotton, DPS Public School, Ravishankar Vidya Mandir, Kumaran’s Children School, St. Joseph’s Girls’ School and Poornaprajna School.

A total of Rs 4.24 lakh has been collected as fines from the schools. The list includes:  Ryan International School (85 cases), DPS (76), Venkat International School (63 cases), Bishop Cotton (35), Kumarans (33), Vibgyor (23), Ravishankar Vidya Mandir (43), St Joseph Girls’ school (20), Poorna Prajna (14), Global (12)… these are the major schools which were booked for violation of the Supreme Court guidelines.

According to the data, 793 cases were registered against 34 private schools of the city for not keeping to the guidelines. According to the data, compared to Bengaluru city, a lower number of guideline violations were reported from other cities of the state. An official of the transport department told the Deccan Chronicle that the Department was surprised by the fact that even the elite schools of the city, which are in the forefront of children’s  education, have failed to follow the safety guidelines issued by the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, DPI officials have made it clear that schools must follow the Supreme Court rules. “DPI, transport department and traffic police have released a separate set of guidelines based on the Supreme Court directions.

“Schools must follow them to ensure the safety of the kids travelling in the school buses,” said a senior officer.