Plea in HC against proximity rule in nursery admissions

The rule makes the distance of the school from applicant a criterion

A society of over 15 private unaided schools in Delhi and NCR moved the High Court on Wednesday. They have sought quashing of new guidelines issued by the AAP government making the distance of the school from the applicant's residence a major criterion while considering them for admission. The plea said this rule will hamper world class education in schools.

The petitioner, Forum for Promotion of Quality Education For All, and some educational societies and private schools have also challenged the clause in the allotment letter of DDA by which it is mandated that the school shall not refuse admission to the resident of the locality or that they shall undertake to admit 75 per cent of the students of the neighborhood or from the locality in which the school is located.

‘Illegal and arbitrary’

‘Terming the December 19, 2016 and January 7 circular issued by the Delhi government “absolutely illegal and arbitrary”, the Forum in its application filed through advocate Vedanta Verma said “by this order, the government has created two categories of schools in Delhi in relation to nursery admissions; first the schools which have been allotted land by the DDA on or after 1980-81 and the second category is of schools allotted land by land-owning agencies wherein no such neighborhood clause exists”.

Mr. Verma made an urgent mention of the petition before a Bench of Justices B.D Ahmed and Ashutosh Kumar, who directed the matter to be listed before the appropriate Bench on Thursday.

No incentive for schools

The petitioners have said in their petition that the new guidelines will have a “detrimental impact on the heterogenity in the pool of students, but also because the impugned order has taken away all discretion from the management of private schools leaving them with no incentive to build and manage the schools”.