HC stays CBSE order withdrawing south Delhi pvt school's affiliation

The Delhi High Court on Thursday put on hold a CBSE order withdrawing the provisional affiliation of a private unaided recognised school running from a resettlement colony in south Delhi.

Justice Rekha Palli also issued notice to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and sought its response by May 26, the next date of hearing, on Mt Columbus school's plea challenging the March 16 order withdrawing affiliation.

The court stayed the March 16 order of CBSE, saying when it had agreed to conduct a fresh inspection of the school, it should not have taken a decision based on its earlier inspection report.

CBSE, represented by advocate Amit Bansal, told the court that due to the ongoing lockdown in the wake of coronavirus outbreak, it was not in a position to access its records to find out if a fresh inspection was carried out.

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"Keeping in view the aforesaid stand of the respondent and the admitted position that it was the respondent itself which had agreed for a fresh inspection vide its order dated August 2, 2019, in my view the impugned order prima facie appears to be unsustainable."

"Irreparable hardship and prejudice will be caused not only to the petitioners but also to the students of the petitioner (school), in case, the operation of the impugned order is not stayed. Accordingly, the operation of the impugned order dated March 16 will remain stayed till the next date," the judge said.

Mt Columbus school of Dakshinpuri in south Delhi was represented by advocate Kamal Gupta who told the court that the CBSE decision was based on its inspection report of 2017.

Gupta said that CBSE had agreed to a fresh inspection after the school made a representation against the 2017 report.

However, no fresh inspection was carried out and based on the earlier report the board decided to withdraw the school's affiliation, the lawyer said. 

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