E-Paper
MP quota in KV admissions comes under HC scanner
A division bench of the Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday issued notice to the Union ministry of human resource development and Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) on a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking quashing of MP quota for admission into KV schools across the country.
A division bench of the Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday issued notice to the Union ministry of human resource development and Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) on a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking quashing of MP quota for admission into KV schools across the country.
The notice was issued by the high court division bench of justice SK Mittal and justice HS Sidhu for April 28.
In his PIL, petitioner HC Arora had submitted that the KVs’ governing body in 2012 had authorised the MPs of both Houses of Parliament to refer up to six cases each for admission into such schools. Another notification was issued by the governing body in December 2015, enhancing the quota from 6 to 10 cases for each MP.
It was argued that admission into government-sponsored/controlled schools must be given only on merit, and the MPs’ recommendation for admission of students, other than meritorious ones, was violative of principle of equality as envisaged under article 14 of the Constitution.
Responding to a query by the high court bench, the petitioner submitted that he would have no objection if such quota is restricted for giving admission to students belonging to BPL (below poverty line) familes. However, unbridled discretion could not be conferred on MPs to make recommendations for such admissions, he argued.
Under the quota, an MP can only refer children whose parents belong to his/her constituency either by domicile or on account of having been posted there. For Rajya Sabha members, the state from which the member has been elected would be deemed to be her/his constituency for this purpose.
