Govt. moves HC against judgment on nursery admissions

The Delhi Government on Thursday moved the Delhi High Court challenging a judgment delivered recently by a Single Judge, by which the Lieutenant-Governor’s guidelines for nursery admissions in the Capital’s private unaided schools were set aside. The appeal said the verdict was erroneous and against the law.

The State Government’s petition comes close on the heels of an appeal moved by a non-government organisation, Social Jurist, which contended that the schools could not claim autonomy in the matter of admission of children. It raised objection to the Court’s rejection of the points system for students.

The Single Judge bench, disposing two writ petitions filed by a committee and a forum representing the schools, had quashed the L-G’s notifications of December 18 and 27 last year, by which the points system was introduced.

The Delhi Government’s petition, likely to be taken up for hearing by a Division Bench, said the November 28 verdict had not appreciated the correct legal position and scheme of Articles 21 and 21-A of the Constitution, besides laying undue emphasis on the right of schools.

“The judge erred [in holding] that if parents are given freedom to choose school, good schools would attract more students and would expand and not-so-good schools would lose students,” stated the petition.

As part of the points system, 70 out of 100 points were given if the child lived in the neighbourhood of the school and an additional 20 were given if a sibling was studying there. Five points given in the inter-State transfer cases were later abolished.