In a first, Delhi govt ready to take over Maxfort School

The Delhi government is set to take over the two branches of the privately-run Maxfort School after Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung’s nod late on Tuesday night.

The Delhi government is set to take over the two branches of the privately-run Maxfort School after Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung’s nod late on Tuesday night.

Late on Tuesday night, L-G Najeeb Jung gave his approval to the AAP government to take over the school against which there were complaints of misappropriation of funds.(Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times)

This is the first time that the Delhi government has initiated such an action against a private unaided school after a clutch of complaints against it.

The Maxfort School’s Rohini and Pitampura branches will now be run by the government. The school which has four branches in Delhi is currently being run by the Chadha Educational Society and S Jagat Singh Chadha Charitable Trust.

Maxfort School has moved the Delhi High Court against the government’s action.

Late on Tuesday night, Jung gave his approval to the AAP government to take over the school against which there were complaints of violation of the Delhi School Education (DSE) Act 1973 and Right to Education Act (RTE) 2009.

Read: Two Maxfort schools get takeover notice on EWS quota

On April 11 this year, the Directorate of Education had issued show cause notices to the two branches of the school. The school was then given 15 days to respond to the notice.

What happens after the government takes over the school?

The government will take over the management of the school from the private party and appoint an administrator to run the school. In this case, the school is run by a charitable trust.

The administrator can be an official from within the government or from outside but appointed by the government.

The school will still remain private, where students will have to pay the fees.

There will be no change in the principal and teachers of the school. The government will now pay salaries to the school staff.

The government which gave the schools’ authorities personal hearings, also examined bank details of the two schools.

According to sources, the government was not satisfied with the responses and lack of co-operation from school authorities and initiative the takeover process.

Members of the Parents Association had filed a complaint with Delhi’s education minister Manish Sisodia, last year against the school.

Complaints ranged from harassment of parents and children by increasing fees to fake admission under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category and tax evasion through manipulation of records.

Following complaints, the government had constituted two committees, one under the department of education and the other under the District Magistrate (DM) north-west.

Read: Pvt schools on govt land hike fees without nod, parents confused

The DOE committee in its report said the EWS/DG admissions for the year 2014-15 and 2015-16 were far below the 25% of the total strength, violating the RTE Act.

The school had also failed to maintain the service records and personal files of teachers and failed to furnish details relating to salary statements of the staff, attendance registers of the staff and other necessary documents.

The DM’s report stated that the school has collected capitation fees and the management of the schools had violated section 24 of DSE Act, 1973. The section states that every recognised school shall be inspected at least once in each financial year which could not be done, due to lack of co-operation from the schools’ committees.