Supreme Court upholds validity of RTE Act

Mangaloretoday/ DHNS

New Delhi, April 12, 2012: Law will apply to all govt, aided minority, and unaided non-minority schools. The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the validity of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 making it mandatory for all schools, except unaided minority institutions, to admit 25 per cent
neighbourhood students from economically weaker sections of the society.

 

 

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia said that its verdict validating the provisions of the law, also known as Right to Education (RTE) Act, would apply from the 2012-13 academic year.

“A child who is denied right to access education is not only deprived of his right to live with dignity, he is also deprived of his right to freedom of speech and expression enshrined in Article 19(1)(a). The 2009 Act seeks to remove all those barriers including financial and psychological barriers which a child belonging to the weaker section and disadvantaged group has to face while seeking admission,” the Bench said.

In a majority view, Justice Kapadia and Justice Swatanter Kumar said that the provisions of the Act would apply on all government schools, aided minority schools, specified category schools and unaided non-minority schools.

In a dissenting view, Justice K S Radhakrishnan said that the unaided minority and non-minority schools would not fall within the purview of the Act.

“Article 21A casts an obligation on the state to provide free and compulsory education to children of the age of 6 to 14 years and not on unaided non-minority and minority educational institutions,” he reasoned.

The Act has come into force since April one, 2010 after receiving the assent of the President on August 26, 2009.

However, the Bench comprising Justice Kapadia and Justice Kumar wanted the government to clarify by making a set of guidelines in case of boarding schools.

“We want the Government to clarify the position on one aspect. There are boarding schools and orphanages in several parts of India.  In those institutions, there are day scholars and boarders. The 2009 Act could only apply to day scholars. It cannot be extended to boarders. To put the matter beyond doubt, we recommend that appropriate guidelines be issued under Section 35 of the 2009 Act clarifying the above position,” the Bench said.

According to the Act, schools providing free and compulsory elementary education would be reimbursed expenditure so incurred by it on the students from weaker and disadvantaged sections section to the extent of per-child-expenditure incurred by the state concerned, or the actual amount charged from the child, whichever is less.

“The amount of disbursement to schools against the expenditure incurred on students from weaker sections by them would differ as it will be decided on the basis of the RTE rule formulated by each of the state for the implementation of the Act,” a senior official of the HRD Ministry told Deccan Herald. Except Karnataka and Goa, all the states have notified the RTE rules.

In its 174-page verdict, the court rejected the contentions of several private unaided schools contending that the Act had violated their fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 19(1)(g) which provided autonomy to private managements to run their institutions without any interference from government.

“The 2009 Act has been enacted to give effect to Article 21A (Right to Education). Since the Article 19(1)(g) right is not an absolute right as Article 30(1), the 2009 Act cannot be termed as unreasonable. To put an obligation on the unaided non-minority school to admit 25 % children in class I under Section 12(1)(c) cannot be termed as an unreasonable restriction. Such a law cannot be said to transgress any constitutional limitation,” the court said.

As far as unaided minority schools were concerned, the bench said, reservations of 25 per cent in such schools could result in changing the character of the schools if right to establish and administer such schools flowed from the right to conserve the language, script or culture. “The 2009 Act is enacted to remove barriers such as financial barriers which restrict his/her access to education. It is enacted pursuant to Article 21A. “Applying the above tests, we hold that the 2009 Act is constitutionally valid.”

Laying down the rules

* All schools must reserve seats for 25 per cent students from economically weaker sections in neighbourhood for admission to class I

* Unaided minority institutions kept outside the purview of the Act

* SC verdict on the Act to come into force from academic year 2012-13

* No restrospective effect on admissions already undertaken

* Centre and states to share the burden of compensation incurred on schools admitting poor students