Observing that a school cannot be allowed to escape the statutory mandate to admit at least 25 per cent students from economically weaker sections (EWS), the Delhi High Court on Monday directed Siddharth International Public School to admit a poor differently-abled boy in Class I as the Delhi government is ready to reimburse the expenditure incurred on his education.
A Bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal dismissed the school’s appeal against a single judge order dated August 26 directing it to admit seven-year-old Priyanshu in Class I.
The boy has a prosthetic leg. In its appeal, the school said it did not have any vacant EWS seats and that Priyanshu had already got admission in a municipal school during the pendency of the case.
EWS admissions
Relying on an affidavit filed by the Directorate of Education through advocate Sahdan Farasat, which said there 38 seats in the school’s pre-primary class and that only seven seats had been filled by EWS admissions though 25 per cent of 38 is nine, the Division Bench dismissed the school’s contention that it had already satisfied the 25 per cent EWS admission requirement under the Right to Education Act and that there were no seats vacant in Class I.
“According to us, 25 per cent admission to EWS children under the RTE Act cannot be held to be the upper limit. It appears to us that the intendment of the Act is to provide admission to children belonging to weaker sections in all schools to the extent of at least 25 per cent. Therefore, the contention that there can be no direction to admit Priyanshu since the same would result in exceeding the limit of 25 per cent is misconceived and untenable,” said the Bench.
“Admittedly, this is a case where Priyanshu is not only a child belonging to the weaker section but is also a differently-abled child. It is also not in dispute that the appellant school is located in the locality where the boy resides. Therefore, the learned single judge was fully justified in directing the appellant school to admit him in Class I. We are also of the view that the appellant school cannot be allowed to escape from the statutory mandate merely on the ground that during the pendency of the writ petition the boy was admitted in a local municipal school,” added the Bench.
The bench also noted the submission by Mr. Farasat that under the RTE Act, the school, being an unaided one, will be reimbursed the expenditure incurred on Priyanshu’s education and that no prejudice would be caused to it.
Accident
After the boy lost his left leg in an accident, his mother had prayed before the Motor Accident Claim Tribunal that her son be admitted to a school under the EWS category.
In January, the Tribunal passed an order directing the school, located close to the boy's house in Ghaziabad, to consider his case. On March 14, the school was directed to admit him in Class I.
Priyanshu’s mother Babli works in a factory, where she packs plastic spoons, besides sewing to make Rs.5,000 per month. Her husband succumbed to cancer.
On August 26, Justice Manmohan had held that the Tribunal’s order was without jurisdiction, but, adopting it in spirit, he directed the school to admit him. On school's contention that his admission would have disastrous consequences for general students already studying in Class 1, he had said it would rather “make the general students more sensitive and humane as they would appreciate the challenges faced by a student with disability and poverty”.
