New norms not applicable to existing schools: HC

The High Court on Wednesday ruled that the November 2014 guidelines of State government to obtain permission for setting up schools will apply to institutions establishing schools afresh and not to those already existing.

Modifying the December 2, 2014 direction of the court, Justice B V Nagarathna observed that the guidelines will not apply to already existing schools which have submitted applications seeking permission to run English medium schools.

The November 2014 order issued by the government prescribes several conditions to obtain permission for starting new schools. The order specifies the extent of space, deposit, dimension and strength of class rooms among other things. The schools had challenged the order before the High Court. Justice A S Bopanna had passed an interim order staying the guidelines. The State government had filed an appeal seeking  vacation of stay.

“The interim order does not have relevance to those schools already imparting education in English,” the court observed on Wednesday.

Earlier, Advocate General Ravivarma Kumar, who appeared before the bench submitted that on account of the interim stay the government was finding it difficult to process the applications seeking permission for English medium schools. He submitted that the norms in question were issued under the RTE and Karnataka Education Act.

The counsel for petitioners, G R Mohan submitted that the norms of the government cannot be made applicable to the existing schools and those which were offering education in English medium.

“The interim order dated December, 2, 2014 is modified. The notification dated November 11, 2014 applies to the categories mentioned in it. The authorities shall consider the applications of the schools. The applications seeking to vacate stay have been disposed  of,” the court said.