Govt schools should get recognition certificate, seeks PIL

Delhi High Court today sought the Centre's response on a PIL seeking that schools owned or controlled by the government or local authorities should obtain a recognition certificate under the RTE Act like the private ones.
Observing that government-run schools were also required to maintain facilities like private schools, a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath asked the Ministry of Human Resource Development to file a reply to the petition.
It also issued notice to the ministry and directed them to file counter affidavit within four weeks.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by an NGO Independent Thought, which alleged that the exclusion of the government-run schools under Section 18(1) of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act from obtaining a recognition certificate, violated the Constitution.

"Exclusion of schools established, owned or controlled by the appropriate Government or the local authority under Section 18(1) of the RTE Act, 2009 to obtain a certificate of recognition as required under the RTE Act is violative of Articles 14 and 21A of the Constitution...
"...It defeats the aims and objectives of the RTE Act of providing quality education to all children in India. It is, therefore, prayed that part of Section 18(1) of RTE Act is liable to be struck down as unconstitutional," the NGO said in the petition.

Advocate Vikram Srivastava, appearing for the NGO, told the court that presently Section 18 of the Act would show that all schools owned or run by the government and/or its agencies have been excluded from the ambit of Sections 18 and 19 of the RTE Act.

"The norms and standards elaborated under Section 19 and the Schedule to the RTE Act do not apply to such schools. This exclusion of a large number of schools from the ambit of Sections 18 and 19 of RTE Act of 2009 is unconstitutional," he contended.
The Act, which came into force in April 2010, makes it mandatory for all private schools to seek state government's recognition. The law stipulates that all schools must procure a "recognition certificate" from the government which would be renewable every three years.
Institutions failing to obtain the certificate can be deemed derecognized. Heavy fines can also be slapped on them under provisions of the Act.