C.W.P. No.5792 of 2011 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. 1. C.W.P. No.5792 of 2011 Bhavya Goyal v. State of Punjab and others 2. C.W.P. No.1469 of 2011 Sukhmanpreet Kaur v. State of Punjab and others. DATE OF DECISION : 1.6.2011 CORAM : HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE MAHESH GROVER Present:- Shri Atul Goyal, Advocate for the petitioner (in CWP Nos.5787 of 2011). Shri Anurag Chopra, Advocate for the petitioner (in CWP No.1469 of 2011). Ms.K.K.Kahlon, Advocate for respondent-2. Shri Sumeet Mahajan, Senior Advocate with Shri Amit Kohar, Advocate for respondent-4. MAHESH GROVER, J. This order will dispose of C.W.P. Nos.5792 and 1469 of 2011. The petitioners in these two writ petitions pray that they be granted admission to LKG Class in the school run by the respondents. It is pleaded herein C.W.P. No.5792 of 2011 -2- that the petitioners have deposited the requisite fee along with the form, but they have not been granted admission and that the respondents are resorting to charging of Capitation Fee and further, their action is contrary to the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. The respondents have denied the allegations of charging of Capitation Fee and have pleaded that they are a society registered under the Societies Registration Act and that it is being run by congregation of sisters of Little Flowers of Bethany and thus, they are a minority institution and are entitled to have their own procedure governing the admission. They plead that they had resorted to a screening procedure which cannot be faulted with and that the entire admission process was transparent and is only to shortlist few candidates in view of the limited number of seats. I have heard the learned counsel for the parties and perused the material on record. The minority character of the institution and the fact that they are unaided, has not been disputed by the petitioners by filing a counter-affidavit. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in T.M.A. Pai Foundation and others v. State of Karnataka and others (2002) 8 S.C.C. 481 and P.A.Inamdar and others v. State of Maharashtra and others (2005) 6 S.C.C. 537, wherein in para-133, 137 and 138 while dealing with the rights of the minority institutions, made the following observations :- “133. So far as the minority unaided institutions are concerned to admit students being one of the components of “the right to establish and administer an institution”, the State cannot interfere therewith. Upto the level of undergraduate education, the minority unaided educational institutions enjoy total freedom. C.W.P. No.5792 of 2011 -3- ... .... ... 137. Pai Foundation has held that minority unaided institutions can legitimately claim unfettered fundamental right to choose the students to be allowed admission and the procedure therefor subject to its being fair, transparent and non-exploitative. The same principle applies to non-minority unaided institutions. There may be a single institution imparting a particular type of education which is not being imparted by any other institution and having its own admission procedure fulfilling the test of being fair, transparent and non- exploitative. All institutions imparting same or similar professional education can join together for holding a common entrance test satisfying the above said triple tests. The State can also provide a procedure of holding a common entrance test in the interest of securing fair and merit-based admissions and preventing maladministration. The admission procedure so adopted by a private institution or group of institutions, if it fails to satisfy all or any of the triple tests, indicated hereinabove, can be taken over by the State substituting its own procedure. The second question is answered accordingly. 138. It needs to be specifically stated that having regard to the larger interest and welfare of the student community to promote merit, achieve excellence and curb malpractices, it would be permissible to regulate admissions by providing a centralised and single-window procedure. Such a procedure, to a large extent, can secure grant of merit- based admissions on a transparent basis. Till regulations are C.W.P. No.5792 of 2011 -4- framed, the Admission Committees can oversee admissions so as to ensure that merit is not the casualty.” A Division Bench of this Court in L.P.A .No.319 of 2011 titled Sacred Heart School and others v. Union Territory, Chandigarh held as follows:- “The appellant-schools are unaided minority institutions who undoubtedly would have the freedom and autonomy to decide all matters pertaining to the governance and administration of the schools including admissions. The law which has crystalized till date on such autonomy of minority institutions would not permit governmental control so long the internal management of the school, is conducted in a fair, transparent and reasonable manner.” In this view of the matter, when a minorty institution has undertaken the process of admission in a manner which has been prescribed by them and which does not smack of arbitrariness and seems to be fair and transparent, I am of the opinion that the contention of the petitioners cannot be appreciated. The Court had also summoned the record of the admission and upon evaluation of the same, also does not find any irregularity which would prompt this Court to interfere in the process. Consequently, the writ petitions are held to be without any merit and are dismissed. (MAHESH GROVER) June 1, 2011 JUDGE GD WHETHER TO BE REFERRED TO REPORTER? YES/NO C.W.P. No.5792 of 2011 -5-