HC directs AMU school to admit girls denied seats for being over-age for Std I

The candidates — Sanjana and Himanshi Sharma — both residents of Aligarh,had passed the entrance test held earlier this year and had also produced birth certificates issued by the Aligarh Municipal Corporation,as required. However,the school put them through a medical test and denied admission saying they were above the permissible age limit between five and seven for Class 1.

The court opined that the school authorities were wrong in using the medical test for age determination of the students. It pointed out the admission form for Class 1 had mentioned that a municipal birth certificate alone would be considered as proof of date of birth.

Passing the order on Monday,a single-judge bench of Justice Amreshwar Pratap Sahi,said: “The court is satisfied that the petitioners have been unjustifiably denied admission for reasons best known to the respondent authorities.”

Ranjeet Singh,counsel for the two girls,said: “The petitioners had passed the entrance test and produced the birth certificates,but were denied admission after medical test on the ground of being overage. Our contention that there was no condition of them clearing the medical test for age determination.”

The court noted that the GHS-AMU had the right to get the candidates medically examined under Clause-25 of the brochure,which said that the candidates could be denied admission if he was found medically unfit.

However,the court took objection to using the clause for determining the age of the aspirants and denying them admission.