Nagpur: The Maharashtra govt on Monday informed the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court that students who failed to secure admission under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, in private unaided schools within a 3-kilometre radius would be accommodated in schools located beyond that distance.The clarification was placed before the court through a communication issued by the Director of Education (Primary), Maharashtra State, Pune, during the hearing of a PIL filed by Ashish Fulzele and others concerning admissions under the RTE Act.Additional govt pleader, Shishir Uike, submitted that nearly 95% to 97% of eligible students would obtain admission in private unaided schools if the 3-kilometre criterion was applied. The note further stated that students left out by the distance rule too would be given admission in schools beyond the limit.The division bench comprising Justices Anil Pansare and Nivedita Mehta took the communication on record and marked it for identification. However, the bench observed that the communication appeared inconsistent with its earlier order dated March 12, in which the court directed the authorities to remove the distance restriction.The bench directed the authorities to act in accordance with the provisions of the RTE Act and its earlier order.During the hearing, petitioners’ counsel Dipankar Kamble, along with senior lawyer Jayna Kothari and advocates Payal Gaikwad and Swapnil Sakhare, tendered an apology for not pointing out earlier certain documents relied upon by Fulzele and others. The lapse earlier resulted in the court imposing costs of Rs25,000.Kamble informed the bench that the amount would be deposited as directed, following which the court accepted the apology.The petitioners also informed the court that the admission portal was not yet opened. The bench directed the authorities to take corrective measures immediately.The matter was posted for further hearing on March 17 at 2.30 pm, while the state was also granted time to file its reply to an intervention application.In the last hearing, the state informed that it decided to extend the distance criteria from 1 kilometre to 3 kilometres and also extended the deadline for submission of admission applications until March 18.However, the bench observed that merely extending the limit might still fail to address the underlying issue. “If purpose of provision under Section 12(1)(c) of the RTE Act is to be achieved, the respondents should ensure that the distance of the school from the residence of the child should be such as to accommodate at least one private unaided school,” the court said, adding that in practice it would be difficult to impose a rigid distance limit.The bench also asked the state to place on record data regarding establishment of neighbourhood schools under Section 6 of the RTE Act, noting that the govt was obligated to establish such schools within 3 years of the law coming into force.
