The Delhi High Court on Tuesday scrapped the neighbourhood criterion for admissions to private unaided schools that were put in place by the Aam Aadmi Party government. The bench stayed the notification issued to 298 schools built on public land, reported ANI. The notice dated January 7 said the 298 institutes could only grant admissions based on distance, prioritising children living within one km of these schools.
The court said the notice was “arbitrary, unreasonable and against the public interest”, reported Hindustan Times. “State cannot impose a restriction on choice of parents to choose a school for their wards just because it is beneficial for the child,” noted Justice Manmohan.
The court said “public interest cannot be confined to 298 schools” questioning the government’s notice to only schools that are built on land owned by the Delhi Development Authority. “Primary cause of nursery admission chaos is the lack of good schools in the capital,” the judge said.
The Arvind Kejriwal government had held that the letter of allotment of the public land to the schools “clearly and explicitly shows that lessee school had willingly accepted the terms of allotment and on the same very terms of allotment, the lessee has been enjoying the property since time of allotment”.
It had said that the “lessee cannot be allowed to allege that as the word neighbourhood is not defined in the allotment letter, the meaning of the word neighbourhood as is now being defined by the Directorate of Education will not be applicable to the lessee”.
The Action Committee for Unaided Recognised Private Schools, the Forum for Promotion of Quality Education and some parents had moved court against the government notification.
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