Be vigilant on institutions flouting norms, Bombay HC asks Maharashtra govt

The Bombay high court (HC) has asked the government to take due cognisance of mushrooming of schools and junior colleges that do not meet eligibility criteria and infrastructural norms, and said it expected the state to keep strict vigil on such institutions and crack its whip on officials who facilitate their functioning.

The Bombay high court (HC) has asked the government to take due cognisance of mushrooming of schools and junior colleges that do not meet eligibility criteria and infrastructural norms, and said it expected the state to keep strict vigil on such institutions and crack its whip on officials who facilitate their functioning.

Bombay high court. (HT FILE)

The court also asked the government to crack down on persons running and operating such institutions.

The court said that as it found that the petition which challenged an order of the education minister allowing Rao Educational Trust to operate five junior colleges was filed with vested business interest by a rival trust, it vacated an earlier stay on the implementation of the order and dismissed the petition along with all interim applications.

A division bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice Girish Kulkarni, was hearing the petition filed by Manju Jaiswal, a Mumbai resident and trustee of an educational trust, seeking a stay on a December 18 order that allowed Rao Educational Trust time till academic year 2021-22 to comply with infrastructural norms for junior colleges as per the Maharashtra Self Finance School (Establishment and Regulation) Rules, 2020.

The December 18 order had been passed by education minister Varsha Gaikwad wherein officials were directed to grant an index number to the trust so that 672 Class 12 students could appear for Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination. Thereafter, a provisional index number was granted to five junior colleges run by the trust at Andheri, Borivli, Sion, Kharghar and Thane.

Senior advocate Anil Sakhare, for Jaiswal, had sought cancellation of permissions granted to coaching classes for starting junior colleges as they failed to conform with eligibility and infrastructure norms and urged the court that the state be restrained from granting permissions to any new self-financed junior colleges.

In light of this, the court had on January 4 restrained the state school education department from granting final permission to the five junior colleges.

Advocate SC Naidu, for Rao Educational Trust, sought dismissal of plea and submitted that the petition was filed with vested interest and students enrolled in the colleges would be deprived of appearing in ensuing examinations.

After hearing the submissions, the bench observed that the petitioner approached the court hiding her identity as she did not disclose that she was a treasurer of a rival education trust. The bench further said that it was pained by the conduct of petitioner of not disclosing her association with the rival trust.

The court also observed that the directions issued by a previous bench in January 2020 asking the state to formulate rules for renewal and approval of proposals by educational institutions was complied with after new rules were framed in October 2020.

The court then referred to the interest of the students in Maharashtra and the adverse impact of mushrooming schools and junior colleges, and said it was the responsibility of the state to keep strict vigil on all such institutions which were allowed to operate in breach of statutory requirements.

The bench concluded, “If indeed the state wants to honour its obligations enshrined in part IV of the Constitution, it is the need of the hour that the state crack its whip on current officers and persons responsible for operating schools or junior colleges in breach of the rules.”