Reimburse pvt schools under RTE, HC tells TN, asks Centre to consider de-linking it from SSS
Chennai, The Madras High Court has asked the Tamil Nadu government to make reimbursement to private unaided schools under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, besides directing the Centre to consider de-linking the RTE component of Samagra Shiksha Scheme and disburse the funds accordingly.
A division bench comprising Justices G R Swaminathan and V Lakshminarayanan gave the directive on Monday, while disposing of a Public Interest Litigation filed by V Eswaran, which sought a direction to the authorities to initiate the admission process for the academic year 2024-25.
During the course of hearing, Additional Advocate General J Ravindran submitted that the responsibility of reimbursement has to be shared between the Central and the State governments. Unfortunately, the State has not been paid its legitimate dues and as a result, it was not able to reimburse the school managements in time, he added.
He said that due to non-release of funds by the Union government, the expenditure towards RTE reimbursement to the schools under Section 12 of the Act to the tune of ₹188.99 crore for the year 2022-23 was borne in entirety by the Government of Tamil Nadu. He sought a direction against the Union Government to pay a sum of ₹2151.59 crore being its 60 per cent share towards Samagra Shiksha Scheme as approved by Project Approval Board for the financial year 2024-25.
Additional solicitor general A R L Sundaresan, while reiterating the Union Government's commitment to ensuring that every child has access to education, submitted that Samagra Shiksha Scheme was an integrated scheme that envisages education as a continuum from pre-school to class 12, and that the scheme was aligned with the provisions of NEP 2020.
Since the State Government has not agreed to implement NEP 2020, there were issues regarding disbursement of funds, he added.
In its order, the bench said a careful reading of the statutory provisions in the light of the various precedents leads it to the irresistible conclusion that the State Government was obliged to commence the admission process under the RTE Act well in time so that the children admitted under this quota were able to join the respective neighbourhood schools at the very commencement of the academic year.
The state government has the primary responsibility under Section 7 of the Act to be responsible to provide funds for the implementation of the provisions of the Act.
"Therefore, the State Government is directed to make reimbursements by adhering to the timeline laid down in the statute. The quantum of reimbursement cannot be arbitrary. It has to be as per Section 12 of the Act r/w. Rule 9 of the Tamil Nadu Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2011. The State Government has a non-derogable obligation to reimburse private unaided schools. Non-receipt of funds from the Union Government cannot be cited as a reason to wriggle out of this statutory obligation", the bench added.
Having issued the aforesaid directions to the State government, the bench called upon the Central Government to discharge its obligations under the Act.
It was true that implementation of the Samagra Shiksha Scheme was aligned to NEP 2020. But then, obligation under the RTE Act was independent by itself. Section 7 of the Act states that the Central Government and the State Governments have concurrent responsibility for providing funds for carrying out the provisions of the Act. Section 7 of the Act mandates that the Central Government shall provide to the State Government as grant-in-aid of revenues such percentage of expenditure referred in sub-section 2 as it may determine from time to time in consultation of the State Governments, the bench added.
"Therefore, funds payable to the State Government representing the Central Government's share towards discharging the RTE obligations need not be linked to NEP 2020. Since the State Government had already filed a suit before the Supreme Court, we are not in a position to issue any binding direction in this regard."
"The total sum for the financial year 2024-25 towards SSS is ₹3585.99 crore. The share of the Central Government is said to be ₹2151.59 crore. The RTE component must be less than ₹200 crores. There cannot be any difficulty in releasing the Central Government's share under this head. We, therefore, direct the Central Government to consider de-linking the RTE component of SSS and disburse the funds accordingly," the bench said.
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