Government rules relating to admission of students to schools by transfer or migration do not give any enforceable right to parents to demand admission as a matter of right, the Madras HC has held.
Dismissing a writ petition from a mother on behalf of her three minor children, Justice K Chandru said even the provisions of the Right of Children for Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 (RTE Act) gave only limited scope, as it was applicable only to LKG or Class I and not higher classes.
G Pravina, the petitioner, an MBBS and Law degree holder, filed the petition complaining that a residential school in Yercaud had refused to give admission to her children. Her husband, an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, was posted in Maharashtra. She said the children were shifted to Tamil Nadu so that they could study in their mother tongue. The school conducted an entrance examination to the children and later informed her that they had scored low marks and hence they could not be admitted.
Praveena contended that besides violating the provisions of the RTE Act, the school failed to follow any reservation scheme and accommodate her children, who hailed from the scheduled caste family. The management also demanded Rs 32,000 as fee, which was against the fee structure fixed by the statutory committee, she added.
The school, denying any demand for high fee, said it had already filled up all the seats. Immediately after the advent of the RTE Act, the school had became the first institution in the State to approach the local bodies seeking students from weaker sections of society. It claimed that 25 per cent of students in its LKG section were from poor families. Justice Chandru, concurring with the submissions, said that merely relying upon the guidelines issued by the State government relating to admission of students by transfer or migration, did not give any enforceable right on the part of the petitioner.
Pointing out that the petitioner’s children wanted admission in Classes IX, VIII and V, he said the RTE Act envisaged admission of children from weaker sections only in either LKG or Class I. “Section 12(1)(c ) can be pressed into service only either at the stage of admission to LKG or at the first standard and that certainly not in the mid-stream admission as demanded by the petitioner,” he said.
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