The Delhi High Court on Thursday put an interim stay on circulars issued by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) through which it had converted the permanent affiliation of several schools in the Capital to that of a provisional affiliation.
Justice Siddharth Mridul stayed CBSE’s circulars with regard to St. Thomas Girls Senior Secondary School, New Delhi; St. Xavier’s School, Raj Niwas Marg; Convent of Jesus and Mary; St. Mary’s School, Safdarjung Enclave; Montfort School and others. Advocate Romy Chacko, appearing for the petitioner schools, argued that the schools were granted permanent affiliation on fulfilling the terms and conditions contained in the CBSE by-law several decades ago.
“Once permanent affiliation is granted, the schools are not required to renew the affiliation or to pay any affiliation fee. The schools also cannot be subjected to any liability arising out of any amendment subsequent to the grant of permanent affiliation, he said. The petitioner schools submitted that CBSE has put the clock back by more than three decades by changing the character of the affiliation from permanent to provisional. This was done after the schools in question had altered their status from provisionally affiliated school to that of a permanently affiliated school after complying with the norms and regulations provided for the same purpose about three decades back.
In January this year, the CBSE without any authority took away the vested right of permanent affiliation from the petitioners disregarding the well-settled principle of law that a vested right cannot be taken away without the authority of law.
