Delhi HC refuses to stop Nursery admission process, issues notice to DDA and AAP govt on schools and parents' pleas

Delhi High Court on Friday refused to stop Nursery admission process in Delhi schools. In its order, the high court said that the criterion of both government and private schools should be included in admission forms uploaded on website.

The Delhi HC also issued notice to Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Delhi Government on schools and parents' pleas challenging the new nursery admission norms. 

Earlier on Thursday, another bench of the high court had pulled up the AAP government for coming out with nursery admission norms at the "eleventh hour" which has not only caused "chaos and confusion" but also wasted "valuable" judicial time.

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Two groups representing private unaided schools have challenged a condition in the letter allotting DDA land to them under which admissions have been restricted to the locality where these institutions are situated.

The two school bodies and some parents have also challenged the Delhi government's nursery admission norms which enforces the clause in the DDA allotment letter, thereby restricting admission in these institutions located on DDA land to their respective neighbourhoods.

The Action Committee of Unaided Recognised Private Schools and Forum for Promotion of Quality Education, who have moved the court, argued that the neighbourhood restriction was?"not reasonable".

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They said that under the Right to Education Act of 2009, 25 per cent of the seats were reserved in private unaided schools for children belonging to poorer sections of society and disadvantaged groups who lived in the neighbourhood.

It said that ever since this reservation under the Act has come into force, it "supersedes and subsumes within it" all prior contractual and other agreements, including the DDA allotment letter.

"So there is no harking back to any letter of allotment," they contended.

The parents have said that while they were not concerned with?the terms of the allotment letter, they were opposed to Delhi?government's decision as it restricted their choice or right to decide where to send their children for study.

"This choice or right cannot be restricted by an executive order," they said.

Meanwhile, Delhi government has said that by a circular of January 9, they have extended that last date for submission of applications to January 31 fromJanuary 23.

The admission process had started from January 2.

298 private unaided schools on DDA land were affected by the nursery admission guidelines which state that such institutes "shall not refuse admission to the residents of the locality".

Defining what neighbourhood would mean, the guidelines say that students residing within one km of the school will be?preferred and if seats are not filled, preference will be given to students residing within 1-3 kms of the school.

"Students residing beyond 6 kms shall be admitted only in case vacancies remain unfilled even after considering all the students within 6 km area," as per the guidelines.

The first list of selected candidates, including those in the wait list, along with marks allotted under point system, will be announced by schools on February 15, as per the admission schedule released by the Delhi government.

With inputs from PTI