The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government and senior officials, seeking their replies to petitions filed over the school roof collapse in Peshawar's Dir Colony that killed 34 students and a teacher, The News International reported.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Farah Jamshed heard the petitions, The News said. Peshawar High Court Bar Association president Aminur Rehman and advocate Fawad Jan appeared for the petitioners.

The notices were issued to the provincial government, the chief secretary, the secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education, the Private Schools Regulatory Authority, the secretary of Works and Services, and the secretary of Finance, Land Use and Building Authority, according to The News. The hearing was then adjourned.

What happened on October 15

The roof of the Al-Khair Education Centre, a private school in Dir Colony, collapsed during classes on October 15. At least 34 students aged 13 or younger and a teacher were killed, and more than 50 other people were injured, the Associated Press reported, citing police, hospital and emergency officials. Reuters also reported the toll of 34 children and one teacher.

Peshawar's police chief said the building was structurally weak, and police arrested the school's owner, Mohammad Khan, shortly after the collapse, AP reported. Provincial authorities ordered inspections of school buildings, with schools to be classified as safe, in need of repairs, or potentially unsafe, AP said.

What the petitioners argued

Counsel for the petitioners told the court the collapse had resulted in the deaths of 34 students and a female teacher and argued that responsibility must be determined, the duties of the relevant authorities examined, and effective measures taken to protect children in educational institutions, The News reported.

The lawyers submitted, as an allegation, that the incident occurred due to negligence on the part of the relevant authorities and that there was no effective system of checks and balances to monitor the buildings and administration of private schools across the province. They said unregistered schools were operating in residential neighbourhoods, and some private schools were functioning in rented buildings. No official final cause of the collapse has been announced.

Bereaved families have demanded justice, and some relatives maintained that they had warned the owner about rainwater repeatedly seeping into classrooms, AP reported. That claim has not been tested in court.

The petitioners also called for an effective mechanism to assess the qualifications and professional competence of teachers in private institutions, and prayed the court to order a transparent investigation and legal action against any officials and institutions found responsible for negligence, The News said.