The Madhya Pradesh High Court’s Principal Bench in Jabalpur has taken significant steps to address an alarming crisis in the state’s public school infrastructure. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) brought by attorney Saurabh Tripathi has highlighted severe deficiencies in the educational system, prompting the court to issue notices to both the State of Madhya Pradesh and the Union of India. This legal action underscores a systemic collapse in the state’s educational framework, as alleged in the petition titled Saurabh Tripathi v. State of Madhya Pradesh and Others.
Alarming Statistics from the Petition
The PIL revealed that an astounding 1,895 schools in Madhya Pradesh operate without a single teacher. In stark contrast, 435 schools, which have no students enrolled, still have teachers assigned to them. Furthermore, 128 teachers have been deployed to 85 schools where teaching positions were never sanctioned, indicating a serious mismanagement of resources.
Court’s Response and Legal Proceedings
On July 14, a Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Vivek Rusia and Justice Pradeep Mittal responded to the PIL by issuing a notice and demanding a response from the state within four weeks. The petition heavily relies on the findings of CAG Report No. 10 of 2025, which audited 66,814 government schools from 2018 to March 2023. The report was formally presented to the State Legislature on February 20, 2026, and its findings were further corroborated by investigative journalism published in the Indore edition of Dainik Bhaskar in April 2026.
Key Findings and Implications
According to the audit, the imbalance in staffing is widespread, with 6,607 schools employing 11,733 teachers beyond the sanctioned capacity. At the same time, 29,116 schools are experiencing a shortage, with nearly half of the required positions unfilled. This disparity is more pronounced in rural areas, where the shortfall is 28.32%, compared to 3.46% in urban settings. The petitioner attributes this mismanagement to a dramatic decline in Class X pass rates, which plunged from 67.74% in 2018-19 to 38.53% in 2021-22.
Additionally, the petition draws attention to the underutilization of financial resources, with only ₹35.71 crore of a ₹165.09 crore budget for teacher training being spent. It also highlights the issue of 14 officials who have been illegally attached to other departments for up to two decades, yet continue to draw salaries amounting to ₹3.27 crore from the Education Department.
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Call for Immediate Action
In light of these revelations, the petitioner has urged the court to direct the immediate deployment of teachers to the 1,895 schools that currently lack them. Furthermore, a time-bound rationalization policy is proposed to effectively address the vacancy gap and rectify these systemic issues.
In the hearing, the petitioner represented himself, while Advocate Anubhav Jain appeared on behalf of the state. Assistant Solicitor General Sunil Kumar Jain, along with advocate Dev Sharma, represented the Union of India.
