Bombay HC: RTE not applicable to minority institutions
The court superseded the right to
education act and said that a minority institution could not be forced to admit
a student.
Mumbai:
The Bombay high
court recently held that the Right to Education (RTE) is not applicable to
minority institutions. Making a detailed analysis of the two legislations, the
HC held that the rights of minority educational institutions were safeguarded
by the constitution. The court superseded the right to education act and said
that a minority institution could not be forced to admit a student. The order could
impact adversely upon students and parents as most education institutes in
Mumbai have either religious or linguistic minority status.
The
HC, however, held the state responsible for the admission of the student and
directed it to admit the student in a school near her house. The order was
issued while hearing a petition wherein a girl was denied readmission to a
minority school after remaining absent for seven months.
A
division bench was hearing a writ petition filed by Dr Vikas Motewar
challenging the refusal of Lokhandwala Foundation School at Kandivali from
re-admitting his daughter to the school after she remained absent for
seven months. The petition sought directions to the state to ensure that the
school re-admitted his daughter by enforcing the clauses of the RTE Act that
stipulated that once admitted, a student could not be failed or removed till
the students elementary education was completed.
According
to the petition, Dr Motewar’s daughter was admitted to the school in nursery
and was studying there till class V when due to familial problems he moved to
Nanded for seven months during which his daughter did not attend school as a
result of which she was removed. Though after approaching the education officer
his daughter was allowed to appear for the exam she was denied promotion to
class VI. The school held that she could be re-admitted to class V and not VI.
The petition alleged that the school did not heed re-admission orders of the
education officer or that of the District Child Protection officer and the
state did not enforce the clauses of RTE Act, hence he approached the court.
The
school said that it was not bound by the clauses of the RTE as they were a
minority institution. After hearing both sides and referring to previous orders
in similar cases, the HC said that minority institutions had the freedom to
establish and administer the school and the state could only ensure that they
maintained standards.
The
state could not interfere in the administration and hence could not force the
school to re-admit the student. The HC while holding that fundamental right of
the school could not be subsome said that under directive principles the state
was obliged to admit the student in a neighbourhood school. The HC rejected the
reliefs sought by the petitioner Dr Motewar.
Source | Asian Age | 23 March 2017
Regards
Pralhad
Jadhav
Senior
Manager @ Knowledge Repository
Khaitan & Co
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