Four schools challenge HC orders

Four schools in the city have challenged the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court pertaining to age criteria for admissions in private schools. The court had fixed the cut-off date for admissions. A notice of motion was issued on Thursday and March 4 has been fixed as the date of hearing. The draw of lots for admission to these schools will not be held till then.

On February 16,the court had directed that the cut-off date for UKG and KG classes would be September 30,2006,for lower KG and Nursery would be September 30,2007. The court had said St John’s,Sacred Heart,Carmel Convent and St Anne’s was to follow this as a one-time measure.

A number of directions had been given by Justice Mahesh Grover to find a solution to the ongoing age dispute with regard to admission in private schools. The UT Administration had been directed to submit a proposal to be followed uniformly in all schools by April 27.

The schools have challenged the orders on the ground no such directions could be given to these minority institutions. According to the High Court directions,the age eligibility slab has been fixed as 18 months,i.e. from April 1,2006,till September 30,2007,for LKG,while the schools and parents have been demanding that this age slab should be one year only.