LG okays takeover of 2 branches of Maxfort by govt, HC stays order

The step was to be taken by the Education department of the Delhi government, that has found these two branches of Maxfort School violating the Delhi School Education (DSE) Act 1973 and Right to Education Act (RTE) 2009. 

The Delhi High Court asked the AAP government not to take any action in connection with its move. 

Earlier on Tuesday, Lieutenant  Governor Najeeb Jung gave his approval to the government to take over the branches which were allegedly not following Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quota. The school which has four branches in Delhi is currently being run by the Chadha Educational Society and S Jagat Singh Chadha Charitable Trust. Reportedly, it has now moved to the Delhi High Court against the government’s action. This is the first time when the Delhi government has taken over the management of private-run school. 

Last year, Members of the Parents’ Association had filed a complaint against the school with Delhi’s Education Minister Manish Sisodia. Complaints ranged from harassment of parents and children by increasing fees to fake admission under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category and tax evasion through manipulation of records. After this, the government had constituted two committees, one under the department of education (DoE) and the other under the District Magistrate (DM) North-West. 

Later in its report, the education department noted that the EWS admissions for the year 2014-15 and 2015-16 were far below the 25 per cent of the total strength, violating the RTE Act. 

Similarly, the DM’s report stated that the school has collected capitation fees and the management of schools had violated Section 24 of DSE Act, 1973. The section states that every recognised school shall be inspected at least once in each financial year which could not be done, due to lack of cooperation from the schools’ committees, it added. 

Citing the observations of the committees, education department on April 11 served a show-cause 

notice to the school, asking to respond within 15 days as to why the department shouldn’t “take over their management”. 

Explaining the modalities of the takeover, a DoE official said the government will take over the management of the school from the private party and appoint an administrator to run it. “He can be from within the government or from outside but appointed by the government,” the official said.

“The school will still remain private, where students will have to pay fees. There will be no change in the principal and teachers of the school and the government will pay salaries to the school staff,” the official said.

When the show-cause notices were issued, the school authorities had moved Delhi High Court, terming the action “illegal and against the principle of natural justice”.

Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva passed the order on the plea of Maxfort School challenging the Lieutenant Governor’s approval given to the Delhi government’s decision to takeover the institute’s two branches at Pitampura and Rohini. The court appointed a local commissioner to visit the school and to maintain records of the documents sought by the government regarding the institute’s functioning. 

The order came after the government told the court that it has already sealed a few rooms of the school. The government had decided to take over two branches of the school on the basis of complaints that it was allegedly violating rules regarding admission of candidates from economically weaker sections (EWS).