Will ensure St Kabir students don’t face difficulty: Chandigarh to Punjab and Haryana High Court

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 26

The order refusing recognition to Saint Kabir Public School will take effect from the next academic session, the UT Administration has told the Punjab and Haryana High Court. It has also told the Bench the Administration will issue clarifications/necessary correspondence in case the petitioner-school faces difficulty with regard to affiliating education board not accepting the examination forms of the students admitted to the current academic session.

Taking up the matter, Justice Vinod S Bhardwaj fixed the case for further hearing on July 13. The matter was initially brought to the High Court’s notice following the filing of a plea by the Independent School Association of Chandigarh and another petitioner.

Justice Bhardwaj’s Bench was told that the petitioner-association had initially moved the court for quashing of every memo/noting seeking to make it mandatory for private unaided schools to admit children/students under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category following alleged obligation under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 and/or Allotment of Land to Educational Institutions (Schools) etc on a leasehold basis in Chandigarh Scheme, 1996.

It was, among other things, also seeking direction/clarification that no fee/funds were to be charged from such children/students to be admitted up to Class VIII. It had specifically sought directions to the respondents not to impose any condition on the private unaided minority schools for admitting the students belonging to the EWS category.

Interim directions were also sought to restrain the respondents from asking the petitioners to admit students belonging to the EWS/Disadvantaged Group (DG) category and to allow them to charge fee from the students so admitted under the 2009 Act and/or the 1996 scheme, keeping in view that the respondents were not reimbursing expenditure incurred on such students. Directions were further sought to restrain the respondents from taking any “precipitate action” against the petitioners.

Senior advocate Aashish Chopra, along with counsel Yash Pal Sharma, submitted that the High Gourt directed that students belonging to the EWS category admitted to private unaided schools would be liable to be transferred to neighbourhood government schools if it was found that all vacancies there had not been filled.

One of the respondents, in an illegal, highhanded and arbitrary manner, resorted to precipitate action against the member school of the petitioner-association, notwithstanding the fact that the writ petitions were at an advanced stage and ripe for arguments. The action was taken in total disregard of the issues raised and was evident from the order dated May 10, when another respondent refused recognition to St Kabir Public School (SKPS) beyond March 31, essentially revoking the provisional recognition granted to it.