The Hindu : New Delhi News : High Court directive on school freeship

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Wednesday, Sep 19, 2007
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New Delhi

High Court directive on school freeship

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has directed the Delhi Government to give wide publicity to the provision for providing free education to students belonging to poorer sections of society by private schools that were allotted land at concessional rates.

Justice M.K. Sharma and Justice Sanjiv Khanna issued the direction on a petition by Ashok Aggarwal of a non-government organisation,

“Social Jurist”, seeking a direction to the State Government to take action against schools that have not filed affidavits in the High Court saying they would implement its order to provide free education to poor students.

The Bench also directed the schools to carry advertisements in the print and the electronic media about the percentage of students to whom they provided free education.

Earlier, Mr. Aggarwal submitted that of the 361 private schools that had availed themselves of the Government benefit, only about 100 to 125 had filed affidavits in the Court.

The Delhi High Court had in May this year asked the private schools to earmark 15 per cent of their total seats for students belonging to the economically weaker sections under the free-ship scheme.

The scheme will come into effect from the next academic session.

The Delhi Government has over the years allotted plots to schools in different parts of the city on condition that they will provide free education to students who hail from the economically lower strata of society.

The Court order had come on a petition by the Action Committee of Recognised Unaided Schools here challenging the Delhi Government’s notification making the condition a statutory obligation for all private schools that were granted land at concessional rates.

The State Government has been asked to take action against schools that have not filed affidavits. The scheme will come into effect from the next academic session.

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