By IANS
New Delhi : The Delhi High Court Monday set aside its earlier order, which gave freedom to unaided minority schools in the national capital in matters of nursery admissions, and made it clear that these schools have to adhere to the norms of the state government.
On an appeal by lawyer Ashok Aggarwal of Social Jurist, a voluntary organisation, a division bench comprising Chief Justice M.K. Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Khanna ruled that these minority schools are no different from other schools and will have to follow the Ganguly Committee’s recommendations and rules laid down by the education directorate of the state government.
“The Ganguly Committee’s recommendations may have exempted minority-run schools to some extent, but the government guidelines have not drawn any distinction between schools, which means these are applicable to all,” Aggarwal said.
Justice B.D. Ahmed of the high court had Feb 8 ruled that the unaided minority schools did not come under the purview of the Ganguly Committee.
Dismissing a petition filed by a man whose daughter was denied admission by Montfort Senior Secondary School at Ashok Vihar because she did not fulfil the school’s criteria, Ahmed had observed the “freedom of minority-run schools remains safeguarded” and no criteria could be imposed upon them.
The school’s lawyer, Romy Chacko, had said: “No one can lay down the rules that harm minority rights protected by Article 30 of the constitution.”
The Ganguly Committee was appointed by the Delhi High Court and headed by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) chairman Ashok Ganguly.