The Delhi High Court on Friday allowed private unaided schools to set their own guidelines for nursery admissions and evolve point systems to suit their requirements. The court set aside the Lieutenant Governor's previous guidelines issued in this regard and held that the administrative autonomy of schools could not be restricted by official orders.
Justice Manmohan of the High Court, disposing of the writ petitions moved by the groups representing the schools and parents, upheld the Ganguly Committee's recommendations. It said the power to decide a child's school should rest with the parents and a position on a map could not decide which school a child should attend.
The court, which had earlier restrained the Delhi government from issuing fresh notification for nursery admissions for the next academic session, said the children should have the option to go to a neighbourhood school, but their choice could not be restricted to a school situated in their locality.
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The verdict has come as a major relief for private unaided schools, as it will be applicable to the admissions for the year 2015-16. The notification issued by the LG had created a 100-point system for nursery admission of general category students and done away with the management quota.
The court also observed that the practice of administering the process of school admissions through circulars, notifications and office orders creates uncertainty and added that consistency, certainty and incorporation of popular will could only be done by the Legislature revisiting the issue of nursery admissions. The court expressed the hope that it would happen at the earliest.