Plea in HC to stop schools from running commercial activities

A plea was moved in the Delhi High Court today seeking direction to restrain the schools here from using their buildings to run commercial activities like selling of books and uniforms.
The public interest litigation (PIL) came up for hearing before a bench headed by Chief Justice G Rohini, who listed it for consideration on March 22.
The plea urged the court to enforce the Central Board of Secondary Education's (CBSE) February 21, 2011 circular, by which the schools across India were directed not to use their premises for any commercial activity or have shops to sell books, uniforms or stationery in the school campus.

The plea by social worker Sunil Pokhriyal submitted that the board has given parents a free hand to purchase these items from the open market at a competitive price, but the public schools were not allowing this to happen.
It alleged that the shops inside schools are being run by the people known to the school management and the institutions made "willful gain" from these businesses.
"A pair of shoes, which is available at around Rs 500 in the market, costs Rs 1,200-1,500 when sold through the school's store," the plea alleged.