In a relief to the National Public School Group, the High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday stayed the action of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) disaffiliating six schools of the group based on a recommendation from the State government following initiation of criminal proceedings against the management for allegedly producing a “forged” minority status certificate.
Also, the High Court stayed further criminal proceedings based on a complaint filed by Block Education Officer, Mysuru, before the Vijayanagar police in Mysuru on August 6 with regard to production of “forged” certificate with respect to NPS International School, Mysuru.
Justice Anand Byrareddy passed the interim order on the petitions filed by Citizen Education Society, which manages National Public School, Rajajajinagar in Bengaluru; National Education Trust, which manages three NPS situated at Indiranagar and Koarmangala in Bengaluru and NPS International School, Vijayanagar in Mysuru; and National Academy for Learning Trust, which manages two NPS situated at Basaveshwaranagar and HSR Layout in Bengaluru.
Denying the allegations, the petitioners claimed that the State had lodged a criminal complaint without even issuing any notice to the management after the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) denied of issuing certificate granting “minority educational institution status” to the petitioners. Also, CBSE, which disaffiliated the institutions based on the recommendation from the State, did not issue any notice before withdrawing the affiliation.
“The petitioner institutions were shocked and amazed by the act of NCMEI and device adopted by it and its officials in disowning their own signature,” contended the petitioners, who claimed Malayalam linguistic minority status.
Pointing out that acts alleged did not constitute a criminal offence, the petitioners said that no benefit was claimed based on the certificate, which is now being termed as “forged"” as exemptions from application of RTE Act was granted based on the interim orders passed by the High Court in various litigations that are still pending adjudication. In fact, the tahsildars, as per the norm, had independently certified that trustees of these institutes belong to the linguistic minority in Karnataka.
