Mumbai: The High Court has expressed displeasure over the government's policy of ignoring the court's order to file an affidavit on a petition challenging the state government's new rule exempting self-financed private schools operating within a radius of one km of government and aided schools from RTE (right to education) admission. The court also said that such an act of the government cannot keep the admission of children in the dark.
The court had on May 6 put an interim stay on the decision to exclude unaided schools from the admission process for 25 per cent seats reserved for students from reserved and disadvantaged categories under the Right to Education, making it clear that any rule or change must be subject to the basic law.
The government later issued a revised order clarifying admissions as per the earlier process. Some schools had approached the court claiming that in the backdrop of the revised rules, children from the open category were given admission in RTE without reservation. They sought a review of the court's stay order. The court, taking their intervention, ordered the government to start the process, but not to give admissions. Information was sought on how many seats have been filled.
Even after one and a half months, the private unaffiliated school has not yet given information about how many students of the open category have been admitted on RTE seats. Therefore, Sogan's name cannot be removed, the government lawyer told the court. The court expressed displeasure over the role of the government. The court criticized the government and said that the government can break the oath related to the main issue. The government has directed that the information sought by the school be submitted within a week and the government should include Sogan's name in the service.