Delhi HC revises income limit for EWS admission in schools to Rs 2.5 lakh ‘till further orders’

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has revised the annual income threshold for Delhi school admission under the economically weaker section (EWS). A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora has modified the single judge order to increase the income limit from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh.

The division bench has modified the EWS annual income limit to Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh till further orders. Hearing the petition filed by the Directorate of Education Delhi, the bench said: “Till further orders, there shall be a stay on the directions in paragraph 119 of the impugned judgment,” the Live Law reported.

The high court’s order to increase the income limit to Rs 5 lakh came in December last year while hearing a case of a man who had managed to secure his son’s admission in Sanskriti School under the EWS category by falsifying birth and income certificates. The court, however, allowed the student to continue his studies under the general category.

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The court had said that the decision will be applicable till the 2011 reservation scheme is amended. As per the Delhi School Education (Free seats for Students belonging to Economically Weaker Sections and Disadvantaged Group) Order, 2011, Delhi schools are required to offer admission to students belonging to EWS category in Class 1 at least 25 percent of the strength of that class. It also states that such students should be provided free and compulsory elementary education, as per the Right to Education Act.

The court pointed out that the minimum wage of an unskilled labour in Delhi is Rs 17,494 per month and that it was far-fetched to assume the annual income will be less than Rs 1 lakh.