Bombay HC orders Vidarbha schools to reopen after June 30, quashes Maharashtra circular

Nagpur: The Bombay High Court has set aside two orders issued by the Maharashtra education department concerning the reopening of schools in the state's Vidarbha region and directed that schools there reopen after June 30. The directive by the high court's Nagpur bench came on Wednesday on a petition filed by Vijay D Kombey, who had challenged a government circular dated March 28, 2026, directing that all schools across the state reopen from June 15.

The petitioner, through his lawyer B G Kulkarni, submitted in the court that the reopening date was subsequently shifted to June 22, after he moved the HC, through another circular dated June 9 issued by the Director of Education. According to the Kombey, the orders violated a 2007 court directive that had held that uniform school reopening was arbitrary for Vidarbha.

He also pointed to a government resolution (GR) of 2023 that had fixed the school reopening date as June 30. The education department justified its decision to reopen schools on June 22 instead of June 15, saying the move addressed the petitioner's grievance and took into account the extreme heat in the Vidarbha region.

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The division bench of Justices Anil Kilor and Raj Wakode said that the education department's orders conflicted with the directions issued by a Coordinate Bench of the HC on June 8, 2007, in a petition filed against the reopening of schools in Maharashtra from June 15. Taking into consideration the high temperatures in the Vidarbha region and their possible adverse impact on the health of students, the Coordinate Bench had held that in 2007 held that such a decision (reopening from June 15) in respect of the Vidarbha region was unreasonable.

Since the Coordinate Bench had dealt with the issue, the HC said, the education department should not have issued the circulars. The HC quashed the impugned circulars dated March 28, 2026, and June 9, 2026, and directed the government to act in accordance with the GR of 2023 and ensure that schools in the Vidarbha region reopen after June 30.