The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to Union Territories and several states including Kerala on a petition seeking the enforcement of a section of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act that requires non-minority private unaided schools to reserve at least 25% of their entry-level seats for children belonging to disadvantaged sections of society.
A division bench comprising Justices K M Joseph and B V Nagarathna heard the PIL filed by one Imran Ahmad who was represented by Senior Advocate Salman Khurshid.
The petitioner pointed out that as many as 15 states including Kerala, Telengana, West Bengal, Goa, Manipur Meghalaya, Mizoram Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir among others have not enforced the Act.
Expressing concern over the union government’s decision to abruptly withdraw, from the year 2022-2023, a scholarship provided by the minority affairs ministry under the pre-matric scholarship scheme to students of first to eighth standard belonging to minority communities, Ahmad had urged Section 12(1)(c) of the Act to be urgently implemented.
However, Ahmad decided to withdraw the petition when the court asked why "limiting it to the minority communities alone. Members of all communities belonging to the weaker sections should get the benefit."