Minority institutions cannot admit students under RTE quota: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court’s Aurangabad bench recently held that minority educational institutions cannot admit students under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act)'s 25% quota for economically and socially disadvantaged children, even if they choose to do so voluntarily [Izak English Medium School and Anr v. State of Maharashtra]..The Court emphasised that allowing such admissions would contravene the constitutional protections that exempt minority institutions from the RTE Act's mandate. The case involved Izak English Medium School in Ahmednagar and Anand Medical and Education Foundation, both of which operate minority-run English-medium schools. .These institutions challenged a government directive linked to a circular issued on March 15, 2013, which specifically excluded minority schools from the RTE Act’s 25% quota. The schools argued that they should be permitted to admit students under the RTE quota as a voluntary gesture, while also seeking reimbursement for students admitted under the quota in previous years..However, the Court rejected these arguments, stating that minority institutions cannot opt into the RTE quota without violating their constitutional rights. In their judgment, Justices Mangesh S Patil and Shailesh P Brahme noted, "Once the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court has held the RTE Act itself being ultra vires Article 30(1) of the Constitution, this Court in exercise of the powers under Article 226 of the Constitution cannot permit the minority institutes like the petitioners to subject themselves to the provisions of the RTE Act. Even if they [minority institutions] are ready and willing [to admit students under the RTE quota], allowing them to do so could be only by making the provisions of the RTE Act applicable to them, which in itself is prohibited by virtue of the declaration in Pramati Educational and Cultural Trust (supra).".The Court's ruling was based on Section 1(5) of the RTE Act which explicitly exempts minority institutions from its applicability. The Bench also referred to the Supreme Court's ruling in the Pramati Educational and Cultural Trust case, which declared that applying the RTE Act to minority institutions would be "ultra vires" Article 30(1) of the Constitution, which guarantees the rights of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice..The petitioners further challenged the validity of certain provisions of the RTE Act and the 2011 Rules framed under it, arguing that these violated their constitutional rights under Articles 14, 19(1), and 30. However, the Court dismissed these claims, asserting that the petitioners could not contest the validity of the RTE Act or the Rules..While dismissing the petitions, the Court acknowledged that Izak English Medium School had previously admitted students under the RTE quota and had not been reimbursed for the academic years 2017-18 to 2019-20. The Court directed the government to "undertake scrutiny of the claim" and reimburse the school within six weeks..Advocates GR Syed and AB Gatne appeared for the schools.Additional Government Pleader AR Kale and advocate AD Aghav represented the State..[Read Judgment]