LUCKNOW:, Aug. 22 -- The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Thursday directed the state authorities to immediately remove the seals imposed on nearly 30 madrasas in Uttar Pradesh's Shravasti district

Justice Pankaj Bhatia passed the order while hearing a batch of petitions challenging government notices that had effectively shut down the institutions by prohibiting imparting of religious education and threatening action for non-compliance, said senior advocate Prashant Chandra who represented the petitioners.

Chandra submitted that the petitioners were neither given an opportunity of hearing nor properly served with the impugned notices. The petitions were opposed by the state government counsel.

The court, which had earlier ...