Delhi High Court laid new guidelines for admission under RTE Act

In a new set of guidelines under Right to Education Act, the Delhi High Court asked the Capital's private unaided schools to admit children from economically weaker sections and disadvantaged groups in the 25 per cent reserved quota.

A Division Bench of the Court comprising Justice AK Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw in a new notice said that the school should adopt new guidelines allowing admission of poor children and those belonging to the disadvantaged groups living within 1 km, 3 km, 6 km and beyond.

Furthermore, the admission will be based on priority basis i.e. the school will give priority to children living within 1 km of the institution, followed by those residing within 3 km, thereafter to the ones within 6 km, and last to those who stay beyond that. The admissions will also depend on the number of seats available.

Old Notification

On 16 December 2011, Delhi Government had issued a similar notification asking the private unaided schools to apply the neighborhood norm and admit students of the poor and the disadvantaged groups as they would devise for the general category students. The Delhi High Court had then stayed the notification on a plea of Federation of Public Schools on grounds of ignorance of Delhi Government about the the areas in which they were operating.

Following the stay, the Government included the rule in the Right to Education Act with certain changes in its wording. The Federation of Public Schools again challenged the notification on the same grounds. The bench comprising of advocate Ashok Agarwal however resisted the Federation's petition and issued the distance as 1 km, 3 km, 6 km and beyond that.