Delhi High Court Wednesday pulled up a few private schools for not giving admission to students from economically weaker sections of the society.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Mukta Gupta pulled up Modern School and the Indian School for filing vague and baseless affidavits with regard to the status of students admitted in the schools.
‘You (schools) have to file a detailed affidavit. Don’t leave anything to imagination,’ the court observed, asking the schools to file a detailed affidavit for admission criteria in the current academic session by April 3.
The court was hearing a public interest petition filed by non-governmental organisation Social Jurist that said the schools were allotted public land on concessional rates on the condition that they would also admit students from the economically weaker sections.
Ashok Aggarwal, counsel for Social Jurist, said there were complaints that some schools do not issue admission forms to parents who were poor.
Counsel for the Indian School contended that they were admitting the students from another unaided school.
Refuting the counsel’s submission, the court said: ‘You cannot shun away your responsibility. You have to identify the students in your own school first.’
On the other hand, Frank Anthony Public School submitted that as they were a minority school and they have not got the land on concessional rates, they were not violating the court’s order of admitting students from the economically weaker sections.
The court directed the Directorate of Education (DoE) to verify the facts stated by the school and take appropriate action according to the rules.
‘DoE can cancel the recognition of the school, if required,’ the court said.
It also directed the schools to comply with the court’s order of giving 15 percent quota for students of economically weaker sections and if violated, they will have to give 20 per cent quota in their respective schools.
