HC refuses to order notice in case filed by American International School
CHENNAIHC refuses to order notice in case filed by American International School
Legal CorrespondentCHENNAI 21 JANUARY 2020 01:21 ISTUPDATED: 21 JANUARY 2020 01:21 IST
The Madras High Court on Monday refused to order notices to the Centre as well as the State government on a writ petition filed by the American International School at Taramani here to declare that certain provisions of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act of 2009 would not be applicable to it.
Chief Justice Amreshwar Pratap Sahi and Justice Subramonium Prasad said, notices could be ordered only if the school management submits sufficient documents to prima facie satisfy the court that it enjoys an immunity from the applicability of the RTE Act and could function without due recognition from the State government. Though the school had sought to declare the contentious provisions of the RTE Act as unconstitutional and illegal, the judges said, the Supreme Court had already upheld the validity of the Act and therefore the petitioner could now seek only for non applicability of those provisions in so far as the petitioner institution was concerned. They granted it time till February 5 for submitting the bilateral agreement reportedly entered between the U.S. and India in 1995 for establishing the school with the objective of providing international education to children of expatriates and other such documents to prove its assertion that the RTE Act would not be applicable to it. In its affidavit, the school stated that out of 830 students studying at present, 90% of them were not Indian nationals. The majority of the students belonged to 30 different nationalities. In May last, the Chief Educational Officer (CEO) issued a notice asking the school to obtain recognition under the RTE Act within 15 days or end up facing a shut down.
Despite the school submitting a response, the CEO ordered closure of the institution. However, the High Court quashed the closure order in November last, the petitioner said and complained that certain provisions of the RTE Act were being regularly used as a tool by the CEO to harass the officials of the school.
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