The Karnataka High Court has said it does not find fault with the decision of the State government to fix the cut-off date and age group for admission of children under the RTE quota for the academic year 2016-17.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and Justice Ravi Malimath passed the order while dismissing a PIL petition, filed by the RTE Task Force, Bengaluru.
“We are of the view that the decision taken by the government to fix cut-off date is not faulty, as the children of the same age group will study in the same class. If the cut-off date is extended, it will result in a situation where older children would have to study with younger children in the same class,” the Bench said in its order.
'It is a policy decision'
“Even otherwise, it is a policy decision of the government, which is in the larger interests of the public. We find no good ground to entertain the writ petition,” the court said.
The government had issued a notification on February 8, 2016, stating that children from 3 years 10 months to 4 years 10 months are eligible for admission to LKG, and those from 5 years 10 months to 6 years 10 months as on June 1 of this academic year would be eligible for admission to 1st standard.
However, the petitioner seeking relaxation in cut-off date contended that those who were a day or a couple of months younger or older would be deprived of admission in this academic year.
.The petitioner also pointed out that the Department of Public Instruction, in the previous academic year, had relaxed the age group to enable some children, who were closer to the cut-off date, to get admission.
