The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Minority run schools cannot be forced to implement Right To Education (RTE) act 2009, that makes it compulsory to reserve 25 % seats in schools for economically backward children.

 

A five judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India R M Lodha  said, “ The 2009 Act insofar as it applies to minority schools aided or un aided, covered under clause (1) of Article 30 (rights of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions) of the constitution is ultra vires the constitution”.  It further said, “ In our view, if the 2009 Act is made applicable to minority schools, aided or unaided, the right of the minorities under Article 30(1) of the constitution will be abrogated… we are thus of the view that the majority judgement of this court… in so far it holds that the 2009 act is applicable to aided minority schools is not correct.” The court said the contention that this would not be possible if private educational institutions in which a person studies for the purpose of achieving excellence are made to admit students from amongst backwards classes of society from the SC and ST, was not founded on the experience of educational institutions in India.