High court upholds minority status of Chandigarh’s St Kabir School
In Feb 2018, action on admn’s petition, court had stayed Sikh minority status granted to Sec-26 school by national commission
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday upheld the minority status of St Kabir Public School, Sector 26.
The high court bench of justice Sudhir Mittal dismissed a February 2018 plea filed by the Chandigarh administration, challenging the school’s minority status. Though a detailed order is awaited, senior advocate, Rajiv Atma Ram confirmed that the UT’s petition has been dismissed.Law officer Pankaj Jain said the administration will file an appeal before a two-judge bench.
Acting on the plea in February 2018, the high court had stayed the National Commission For Minority Educational Institutes (NCMEI)’s decision to grant Sikh minority status to St Kabir Public School. The school got this status in September 2014.
Chandigarh has 82 private schools, of which 22 are minority schools. Only two have got a no-objection certificate from the UT administration out of the 13 schools that opted for the status after 2012. There has been a spurt in the cases of schools opting for minority status after directions of the apex court in 2012, which stated that such schools are not bound to reserve 25% seats in entry-level classes for children from economically weaker section (EWS) under the Right to Education (RTE) Act.
In another case in August 2018, the high court single-judge bench had ruled against minority status obtained by Vivek High School, Sector 38, also on the plea of the administration. Vivek’s appeal against that judgment is pending before a division bench.
The UT had argued that according to the 2011 census, Sikhs constitute the second largest majority after Hindus in Chandigarh. Due to minority status, it is outside the purview of the RTE Act for reservation to EWS and UT has no control over fee regulation and parents cannot approach the administration in case of any complaint, the court was told.
“School has complete monopoly on the functioning without any fear of state supervision or accountability,” the UT had argued. It was also informed that the school did not get an NOC from the administration, and the commission granted the minority status even after the UT contested it.
On the other hand, the school had argued that the decision was challenged by the administration after a period of three years. Further, it was submitted that the director, school education, had filed the petition, which as per rules should have been filed by the UT administration.
