Madras HC extends RTE quota data deadline to Nov 30

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has extended the deadline for private schools to submit details of students admitted under the 25% quota mandated by the Right to Education (RTE) Act, granting time until November 30.

Under the RTE Act, private schools are required to allocate 25% of their seats to students from economically weaker sections. Earlier, the Director of Private Schools had issued a circular instructing schools to submit the details of students admitted under this quota by October 17.

Hearing petitions challenging this circular, a single judge of the Madras High Court had earlier ruled that the circular was issued only to facilitate the reimbursement of fees and extended the submission deadline to October 31.

Challenging that order, the Tamil Nadu Private Schools Development Association and the Tamil Nadu Private Schools Management Welfare Association filed appeals.

When the appeals came up before a division bench comprising Justice R Suresh Kumar and Justice Hemant Chandangoudar, the petitioners argued that since the online portal for RTE admissions was not opened, all seats had already been filled by the schools. They contended that it was now impossible to prepare a list of eligible students within a short time.

Accepting the mutual consent of both parties to extend the deadline, the judges directed that schools which had not yet submitted their student lists be given time until November 30 to do so.

The bench also directed the government to begin verifying the lists received and stated that no further extensions would be granted, thereby disposing of the petitions.