Delhi HC directs JNV not to deny admission to students on ground of previous schooling from different area

NEW DELHI: Delhi High Court has directed the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya to ensure that students are not denied admission on grounds that they do not belong to the districts in which the particular school is situated. Justice C Hari Shankar quashed the decision on not to admit a student in the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Mungeshpur, and said the child is entitled to be admitted in Class 6 of the 2024-25 academic year and continue to be educated there.

The high court passed the order on a petition by a child, who studied till Class 5 in the Navyug School at Peshwa Road of the national capital, seeking admission in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Mungeshpur, in Class 6.

The school denied admission to the girl student on the ground that she had done her schooling in New Delhi district and not in the Mungeshpur area of the North West district. It was contended by the school authorities that admission to Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Mungeshpur, was available only to students who had studied in Class 5 in the Mungeshpur area.

The high court noted that a similar issue was earlier dealt with by another bench of the high court and, while the matter is pending with a division bench, as an interim measure, the student in the previous petition was allowed to continue studying in the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Mungeshpur. "The JNV (Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya) is, therefore, directed to ensure that, hereinafter, the (previous) judgment … is complied with, and students are not refused admission into the JNV on the ground that they do not belong to the districts in which the JNVs are situated, without driving every student to litigation," Justice Shankar said.

The high court further said the decision not to admit the petitioner in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Mungeshpur, is quashed and set aside. "The petitioner is entitled to be admitted to the JNVM (Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Mungeshpur) in Class 6 in the academic year 2024-25 and to continue to be educated in the said school. This shall, however, be subject to the outcome of … (appeal) pending before the division bench," it said.

In the previous judgment, the high court held that the decision of the respondent (authorities) to exclude Central and New Delhi districts from the ambit of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas and not granting an opportunity to students of those districts for admission to Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas under the urban quota, was "clearly arbitrary", leading to inequality and clearly hit by Article 14 of the Constitution.