Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: THE Supreme Court has refused to entertain a plea filed by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh challenging the Uttar Pradesh Government’s decision to pair and merge 105 government-run primary schools.
“Are you not trying to enforce rights under the Right to Education Act? If it is a statutory right, then it cannot be camouflaged as a writ petition under Article 32 (dealing with the enforcement of fundamental rights)! Let the Allahabad High Court decide the matter,” a Bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and AG Masih remarked at the very outset on August 18.
Sensing the disinclination of the Justice Datta-led Bench to entertain the writ petition filed directly before the apex court, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Sanjay Singh, sought permission to withdraw the plea with liberty to approach the Allahabad High Court. Ultimately, the matter was dismissed as withdrawn.
The writ petition contended that the decision to pair and merge 105 government-run primary schools, formalised through a Government order on June 16 and a consequential list on June 24, was “arbitrary, unconstitutional, and legally impermissible”. It added that the state Government’s action has already “adversely impacted the educational access of numerous children across the state of Uttar Pradesh”.
According to the plea, the merger of schools with low enrolment into other institutions has forced children to travel longer distances without any provision for transportation or alternative facilities. This move violated the right to free and compulsory education guaranteed under Article 21A and reinforced through the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act), it contended.
