Delhi HC seeks govt’s response on plea for school admission of 44k EWS category children
The Delhi Supreme Court on Monday asked for the Delhi government’s “concise and clear” response to a petition to ensure that more than 44,000 children, belonging to weaker and disadvantaged groups, are admitted to several private schools here.
A bank headed by judges Rajiv Shakdher and Talwant Singh has announced the NGO Justice For All a public interest lawsuit and has asked Delhi government adviser Santosh Kumar Tripathi to submit the response.
“Submit a concise and clear answer (on) your understanding of the law on the right to education, the position of the number of seats in the previous year, applications submitted and number of admissions,” the court said when summing up the case. for further hearing on April 26.
The plea, filed by lawyers Khagesh B Jha and Shikha Sharma Bagga, alleged a flagrant violation of the fundamental rights of thousands of children awaiting admission since April 2021 because the government failed to fulfill their duty.
The petition states that although there are more than 53,000 seats from the current year and 24,000 seats to be transferred from the last academic session, i.e. a total of 77,000 seats for children belonging to the economically weaker section (EWS) and underprivileged groups, only 21,000 children are admitted.
It alleged that the Director of Education delayed the process on his own initiative and is now refusing admission on the grounds of delay in admission, which is the duty of the competent government.
The applicant has requested the Director of Education to take action against the private schools that have not admitted the students to the allocated places.
