Schools approach High Court against Delhi notification on freeship

New Delhi, Jan 31 (UNI) Some Public schools, built on subsidised public land, today approached the Delhi High Court seeking direction to quash the notification of the Delhi Government to set aside 20 per cent of their seats for poor students.

Appearing before a Bench of Chief Justice M K Sharma and Justice Sanjiv Khanna, the Action Committee of Unaided School, Independent School Federation and some schools-- DPS, Caramel Convent, Holy Cross, Loretto Convent, Canterbury Model and St Xaviers-- submitted that the recent notification of the Delhi Government could not be implemented in its present form.

The Court transferred the matter to the bench headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar and posted for hearing on February 9.

The High Court had directed the Delhi Government to implement the provisions in the lease deeds with the schools by forcing them to admit at least 20 per cent students under the freeship quota.

The Delhi lieutenant-governor has notified the state government's October 2006 order to private schools built on subsidised public land, to reserve 20 per cent of their seats for poor students and also waive their fees.

In lieu of the lands allocated to them at marginal prices, the private schools have been put under the obligation to provide free education to poor students without levying any charges, including the tuition fees.

The Delhi High Court was apprised of the notification of the government's order last Thursday by the government counsel, who submitted that students from the nursery level to Class XII would benefit from it.

On September 13, 2005, the High Court had issued a stern warning to 106 private unaided public schools established on the government land allotted at a concessional rate, to provide 20 percent seats to the poor students.

The DDA and L&D Department had allotted land at a concesssional rate to 361 schools and according to the lease agreement, the institutions should reserve at least 20-25 per cent seats for the poor students.

Had the schools adhered to the norms set by the land allotting agencies, at least 1.5 lakh poor students would have been studying in these institutions under freeship quota, said Counsel Agrawal, appearing for petitioner Social Jurist, a Voluntary agency.

UNI