Delhi Nursery Admission; Delhi HC dismisses Govt's Petition to Scrap Management Quota [Read Judgment]

A Division Bench of Delhi High Court on Tuesday rejected a petition filed by the State Government against an earlier order of the single Judge, which had stayed the State Government’s circular that had scrapped many criteria for nursery admissions, including management quota.

Staying the circular, the Court had earlier observed that the same was prima facie issued without any authority of law. “However, any alleged malpractice in utilization of the management quota like sale of seats being actionable should be investigated and taken to its logical conclusion in accordance with law, but it cannot be a ground to abolish the quota itself. After all, vesting of discretion is not bad, but to misuse it, is illegal,” Justice Manmohan had observed while disposing of the application.

It was held that the impugned order was in direct conflict with the Recognized Schools (Admission Procedure for Pre-Primary Class) Order, 2007, issued by the Lieutenant Governor of NCTD in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 3(1) of DSE Act read with Rule 43 of DSE Rules. Through the impugned order, 20% Management Quota provided under Clause 14 of the 2007 Order was done away with. You may read the LiveLaw article here.

This order delivered by Justice Manmohan was now challenged before division bench of the Court. Upholding the earlier order, the bench comprising Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath observed, “We entirely agree with the view of the learned Single Judge that the order dated 06.01.2016 which is a mere executive/administrative order cannot take the place of a law made by the Legislature. Therefore, the action of DoE in seeking to modify/substitute the admission procedure by issuing the order dated 06.01.2016 undoubtedly amounts to exercising the power conferred on the Lieutenant Governor under Section 3(1) read with Section 2(a) of the DSE Act and the Rules made thereunder. The same being impermissible under law, the learned Single Judge was right in holding that the said order is without authority.”

Read the Judgment here.