Delhi High Court - Orders
Ramesh Chander Singh vs Govt Of Nct Of Delhi & Anr on 4 September, 2023
Author: Anup Jairam Bhambhani
Bench: Anup Jairam Bhambhani
$~60
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ W.P.(C) 11650/2023
RAMESH CHANDER SINGH ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr. Aayush Agarwala and Mr.
Siddham Nahata, Advocates.
versus
GOVT OF NCT OF DELHI & ANR. ..... Respondents
Through: Mr. Utkarsh Singh, Advocate for
Mr.Santosh Kumar Tripathi, Standing
Counsel for R-1/GNCTD.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ANUP JAIRAM BHAMBHANI
ORDER
% 04.09.2023 By way of the present petition filed under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner, who is the father of a 03 year old child Kushi Rawat, seeks a direction to respondent No.2/Himalaya Public Sr. Secondary School, Rohini to grant to his ward admission in Class : Nursery/Pre-school for the Academic Session 2023-24 in the EWS/DG Category.
2. Mr. Aayush Agarwala, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that the petitioner's ward was allotted a seat in respondent No.2 school vide communication received via text message on the petitioner's cell-phone number, a print-out of which has been annexed as Annexure-P1 to the present petition.
W.P.(C) 11650/2023 Page 1 of 5This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 16/09/2023 at 16:17:18
3. Counsel however submits, that despite repeatedly approaching the school for admission, the petitioner's ward has not been granted admission.
4. Issue notice.
5. Mr. Utkarsh Singh, learned counsel appearing on behalf of Mr. Santosh Kumar Tripathi, learned Standing Counsel (Civil) for respondent No.1/Directorate of Education ('DoE') accepts notice; and seeks time to file counter-affidavit.
6. Mr. Singh confirms that the allotment of seat was indeed made to the petitioner' ward, as evidenced by the communication annexed to the petition.
7. Mr. Singh submits however, that on the MIS portal of the DoE, against the petitioner's registration number, the school has shown that the petitioner had "Not Reported", that is to say, the petitioner never reported to the school to process the admission.
8. This court has come across several cases where schools cite this reason - viz., that a child to whom a seat has been allotted by the DoE does not report to the school to process the admission further - and the school cites this as the reason for not granting admission, despite their purported willingness to do so.
9. In fact, in the present case itself, a print-out of the relevant page of MIS portal of DoE seems to indicate that 05 children, who were all allotted seats in the school, have 'Not Reported'.
10. Upon being queried, this court is informed that typically, after allotment by the DoE, the parents approach a school to process their admission by physically visiting the school; but they are either not W.P.(C) 11650/2023 Page 2 of 5 This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 16/09/2023 at 16:17:18 entertained, or are not given any document to show that they have approached the school for admission, and are then denied the seat despite allotment.
11. While considering the measures to ensure implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 ('RTE Act'), in judgment titled Rameshwar Jha vs. Richmond Global School1, a Co-ordinate Bench of this court has inter alia issued the following directions :
"123. It is high time that the judiciary reaches the people and not wait for the people to reach out to the judiciary, as the poor kids are being forced in the instant set of petitions to knock the doors of the Court for availing their Fundamental Right to Education. In view of the aforesaid analysis as well as to alleviate and ameliorate the miserable state of affairs as prevalent in the NCT of Delhi qua implementation of the RTE Act at elementary education level, it is pertinent to exercise the powers of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution to issue directions to the DoE for ensuring admission to the poor children belonging to weaker sections. It is accordingly directed as under :
a. All the schools within the meaning of Section 2(n) of the RTE Act shall ensure that the provisions of the Act as interpreted herein shall be given effect in letter as well as in spirit;
b. All such schools as aforementioned shall also ensure that no student, belonging to 'Weaker Sections' as defined in the RTE Act and recommended by the DoE for being admitted in an Academic Session, shall be denied admission or treated with conduct that is unwelcoming of them on any pretext whatsoever including that of suspicion of credentials;"
(emphasis supplied) 1 2022 SCC OnLine Del 4438 W.P.(C) 11650/2023 Page 3 of 5 This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 16/09/2023 at 16:17:18
12. In the above view of the matter, this court is of the opinion that in order to forestall and obviate false excuses by schools in that regard, it would be advisable for the DoE to include in its communication sent to parents informing them about allocation of a seat in a given school
- the name, designation, contact cell-phone number and e-mail ID - of an appropriate staff member/officer of the allotted school on which the parents must send a communication confirming to the school that they are interested in seeking admission pursuant to the seat allotted; the purpose being that the school should not be able to baselessly say that the parents did not 'report' to the school for admission.
13. Mr. Singh submits that such measure would require incorporation in the MIS portal/other electronic systems which are deployed for allocation of seats.
14. Let DoE consider incorporating the aforesaid details at the earliest.
Let a report to that effect be filed before this court positively before the next date.
15. In the meantime, upon the petitioner taking steps, let notice be sent to respondent No. 2 school by all permissible modes, returnable for the next date.
16. Let counter-affidavit be filed within 04 weeks; rejoinder thereto, if any, be filed within 03 weeks thereafter; with copies to the opposing counsel.
17. On an overall conspectus of the present case, inter-alia that the petitioner has taken the trouble of approaching the Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee to file the present petition, seeking enforcement of their right under the RTE Act, it seems W.P.(C) 11650/2023 Page 4 of 5 This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 16/09/2023 at 16:17:18 counterintuitive that the petitioner would not have approached the respondent school for admission despite allotment of a seat having been made to his ward.
18. In the circumstances, it is directed that respondent No. 2 school shall grant to the petitioner's ward - Kushi Rawat - provisional admission in Class : Nursery/Pre-School for the Academic Session 2023-24.
19. This order shall continue during the pendency of the present petition, unless varied or set-aside.
20. Re-notify on 01st December 2023.
21. Let a copy of this order be forwarded by the Registry to the Director of Education, Government of NCT of Delhi, for information and compliance.
ANUP JAIRAM BHAMBHANI, J SEPTEMBER 4, 2023/uj W.P.(C) 11650/2023 Page 5 of 5 This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 16/09/2023 at 16:17:18