A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharjee and Justice Prasenjit Mondal directed the state government to ensure that all schools were vacated so that classes could be resume by the beginning of next year.

Advocate General Balai Roy submitted that nine schools and a college had been vacated and two others would be handed back to the school authorities by December two.

The AG sought three-month time for vacating 10 other schools.

Since labourers were afraid of working in the Maoist-hit district to construct buildings and temporary structures for the security forces to shift to, it was creating problems, he said.

The court, however, refused his argument and set the deadline of December 30 for vacating the schools. The order was passed on a PIL filed by NGO West Midnapore Bhumij Kalyan Samity seeking immediate steps for resumption of classes.