Ahmedabad Mirror: Nikunj Soni: Monday, July 06, 2020.
The panel has sought grievances/complaints from parents of wards who could not secure admission under RTE in the academic year 2019-20 Action comes after SC verdict on PIL that alleged web portal dedicated to RTE admissions in Gujarat showed fudged data of vacancies in private schools The Gujarat High Court has appointed a three-member committee presided over by a former judge of the HC to inquire into allegations of private schools hiding data while giving admissions to the poor children under the Right to Education (RTE) Act. The high court has acted upon a verdict issued by the Supreme Court after a petition raised the issue of irregularities committed by private schools while giving admissions on 25% seats reserved under RTE Act.
As per the notification issued by the Registrar General of the Gujarat High Court, retired Justice V P Patel shall be the chairman of the committee while retired District Primary Education Officer of Navsari A S Patel and retired secretary of the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board RI Patel will be its co-members. The Supreme Court had issued an order on January 21 in response to a PIL filed by RTE activist and lawyer Sandip Munjyasara. As per the SC order, the first committee was appointed on March 17 with retired Justice K M Thaker as its chairman.
The committee was reconstituted on June 9 and retired Justice V P Patel appointed as the chairman. Registrar General R K Desai was not available for comments. Petitioner Sandip Munjyasara said, “I have got the order of the constitution and reconstitution of the committee through RTI I had filed in March. The committee was formed as per the Supreme Court order. It issued an advertisement in newspapers on June 26, inviting grievances or complaints from parents whose children could not secure RTE admission for the academic year 2019-2020.”
The state government undertakes the RTE admissions process through a web portal where details of seats available in private schools are furnished for the benefit of disadvantaged students. The PIL filed in SC had alleged that details of the number of seats and schools were deliberately not shown on the portal. It had also alleged that data of 1,232 schools was hidden on the web portal. “The government of Gujarat had falsely declared on its official website the number of vacancies in class-I of certain schools as ‘zero’. As a result, parents of children from weaker sections, who had looked up the website, were denied admission in these schools,” the plea in the apex court had said.
Pritesh Kapoor, the counsel for the state government, had vehemently denied that such a situation prevailed. According to the state government, schools are not permitted to fudge the figure of vacancies/seats available in class-I. Also, the State government verifies the actual number of vacant seats and takes suitable action where necessary, it said. Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama was not available for comments.
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