The school refused admission to the petitioner on the grounds that the actual number of admissions against the general category was less than the figure reported to the DOE (file photo)
The court order came on a petition filed by a student seeking admission to pre-primary class in a private school after a successful computerized draw conducted by the DoE.
The Delhi High Court has said that schools are bound by the result of the computerized draw conducted by the Directorate of Education (DoE) for admission of students under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category. Justice C Hari Shankar said the computerized draw is conducted on the basis of class strength declared by the schools and in the absence of the requisite number of students in the general category, the school has to apply to the DOE for size determination. Reduce the number of EWS students and the results of the draw cannot be easily reduced.
The court order came on a petition filed by a student seeking admission to pre-primary class in a private school after a successful computerized draw conducted by the DoE. The school refused admission to the petitioner on the grounds that the actual number of admissions in the general category was less than the figure reported to the DOE and that it had already admitted 25 per cent of the actual number of admissions in the general category. EWS category as per legal order.
“Once a school informs DOE the number of general category and EWS seats available with it to be filled in the upcoming academic year and DOE conducts a computerized draw on that basis, the school is obliged to grant admission to EWS . Students who are found eligible for admission on its portal on the basis of the said computerized draw,” the court said in the recent order. “The school cannot then say that the actual number of general category students, whom it could ultimately admit, was less than the number of general category seats reported by it to the DOE, there should be a proportionate reduction in the number of EWS students, which He may grant admission for that year, and on that basis, refuse admission to students who have been shortlisted for admission on the basis of the data provided by the school,” the court said.
It said that in the present case, the computerized draw was conducted on the basis of the number of seats informed by the school for the academic session 2023-24 and the petitioner is undoubtedly entitled to the relief of admission. It added that in the absence of any “revision” of the number of seats by the DOE, the school will be bound by the result of the computerized draw.
“The petitioner shall be entitled to be provided education by the school as an EWS candidate in accordance with the provisions of the Right to Education Act and various circulars, guidelines and other instructions issued by the DOE in that regard,” the court said.
