Good Governance Day essay competition extended to 26 December

The court in its order noted that the “challenge is primarily on the ground that the celebration of Good Governance Day on 25th December which is a religious holiday, is against the spirit of articles 14,15,16, 19,21 and 25 of the Constitution of India.

The plea has been filed by PB Prince Gajendra Babu, for the Tamil Nadu based State Platform for Common School System (SPCSS). The plea alleges that since Central government’s decision to hold a competition included a cash prize and merit certificates for the students, they would be “constrained to participate” and the children who are celebrating Christmas would not be able to participate.

Senior advocate Amit Sibal, who had appeared on behalf of the petitioner, also argued that the students will “lose out” on the opportunity to participate if the competition was held on the holiday.

After the court asked the center to clarify its position, Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain told the court that the essay writing competitions would be extended to December 26.

During the hearing, ASG Jain pointed out that competitions were often held on festivals, giving examples of Onam, but the court said that the issue was that children would not be able to participate.

“The ASG has submitted that the competition proposed to mark the Good Governance day by online essay competition in all CBSE schools will not be confined only to December 25 but option will also be given to submit the essay on December 26” noted the court.

The High court has also asked the Centre to provide wide publicity through radio, Tv and print media to the extension, as the all India competition would include children in government schools in remote areas.