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Writ petitions were filed before the Karnataka High Court by children studying in Vyasa International School run by the Vyasa Educational and Cultural Trust acting on which the Court held that no school can expel a child by issuing Transfer Certificates (TC) without any requests being made by the parents.
The reliefs that the petitions seeked included: issuing appropriate writ/order/direction holding that the school and the trust are not entitled in law to issue Manual Transfer Certificates to the petitioners and therefore squashing the TC’s; issuing the same to the impleaded authorities; to issue a writ of mandamus directing the school and the trust to forthwith give admissions to the petitioners for the academic year 2019-20 to their respective classes and passing any other orders as the Court deems fit.
In April, 2019, the petitioners had received Transfer Certificates without them having requested for it and thus, they approached the Block Education Officer who issued a show-cause notice to the school and instructed it to collect fees and give admission to the petitioners. The petitioners contended that despite them having paid regular school fees, the school expelled them as they had raised their voice against the exorbitant fees demanded by the school in the previous academic year and the lack of facilities and amenities provided.
Relying on Sections 3 and 16(4) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act), the counsel for the petitioners contended that elementary education is free under this Act and a student once admitted, cannot be expelled from the school until its completion. A circular issued by the Government of Karnataka on the 25th of May, 2019 also said that Transfer Certificates issued without the request of parents would lead to disciplinary action.
In the present case, the column for the date of receipt of application for such issuance was kept blank. In an order dated 21st May, 2019, The Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights had withdrawn and cancelled the TCs and the Block Education Officer was directed to ensure that the children were allowed to attend school once it reopened. The counsel for the respondents said that this order was challenged by them and an interim order had been granted by the court in the case to not take any precipitate or coercive action against the petitioner institution.
The counsel for respondents also contended that since they were private respondents, a writ petition under Articles 226 and 227 was not maintainable against them. It was also said that RTE Act was only applicable to the students admitted under the RTE quota. Further, it was contended that the parents of the petitioners had defaulted in payment of their fees and had behaved in an unruly manner with the school staffs. The school argued that they had autonomy with respect to admission by virtue of Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution.
The High Court concluded that the petition was maintainable, as the rights of the children flowed from the constitutional and statutory rights affecting the fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 21A of the Constitution. Also, if the argument of issue of applicability of the RTE Act was accepted, it would defeat the objective of the constitutional right guaranteed under Article 21A.
Justice S. Sujatha while ordering the parents of the petitioners to not involve in any derogatory act towards the school, held the issue of TCs to the petitioners to be unsustainable and directed that the school admit the petitioners to their respective classes upon payment of 75% of total fees of academic year 2018-19 and 75% of first instalment for the present academic year within seven days.
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