LUCKNOW, June 9 -- Additional district magistrate (Lucknow East) MP Singh on Monday issued an order to hand over possession of Vidya Mandir Girls' High School to the institution's management. It came after the district inspector of schools (DIoS) Devendra Kumar Pandey filed an application under Section 34(8) of the UP Urban Premises Tenancy Regulation Act, 2021, seeking interim relief for the state-funded, aided school running since 1936. He argued the school provides free education to poor girls and is managed by the state government. "The application submitted by the DIoS, Lucknow, is accepted and the implementation of the order dated 21.04.2026 passed by the court in case number D-202510460002316 under section 36(2) of the UP Urban Premises Tenancy Regulation Act number 16 of the year 2021 is stayed and the possession is to be given to the school management immediately and inform the court so that the studies of the students are not interrupted. A copy of the order is complied with. It should be sent to the police commissioner, Lucknow, and the inspector in charge, Hazratganj police station, Lucknow. The file should be presented for objection/evidence," the order stated. Office-bearers of the UP Madhyamik Shikshak Sangh, including its regional vice-president and spokesperson RP Mishra, reached the school. When police officials on the campus were requested to open the locks, they informed school manager Santosh Rastogi that the school will be unlocked after the prescribed fee for the force is deposited as per rules. Rastogi said the DIoS had directed her to deposit the money. "It has come to notice that a copy of the order issued by ADM (Lucknow East) was first given to the opposite party and later to the school manager on her application," said Mishra. Nearly nine decades after it opened its doors to educate girls from economically weaker families, Vidya Mandir Girls' High School in Narhi was shut down on Thursday. Students, teachers and parents gathered at the school in protest on Saturday. The school management alleged that the institution was forcibly vacated following an administrative order linked to a long-running land tenancy dispute. School manager Santosh Rastogi said the institution functioned on government-lease land, catering to nearly 250 students and employing 12 teachers....