New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the AAP government to do a mapping of its schools indicating the availability of science and commerce streams. The court order came on a petition alleging “alarmingly uneven distribution” of such schools.
A Bench of chief justice Gita Mittal and C Hari Shankar asked the government to also inform it about the schools where science and commerce streams were not available.
The court asked the government to place the map of government and government-aided schools, indicating availability and non-availability of these two streams, and listed the matter for hearing on February 26 next year.
The court asked the authorities, including the AAP government and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), to file their responses to the petition that claimed there are ‘shadow pockets’ in different regions of Delhi where schools do not offer science and commerce streams at all.
The Delhi government’s standing counsel, Ramesh Singh, said no complaint had been received from any student or parent about not getting admission in a school within an area of three km.
The plea, filed by Yusuf Naqi through his counsel GM Akhtar, accused the Delhi government of “non-uniformity,” alleging it was ‘cherry- picking’ while offering science and commerce streams to students at the intermediate level in government schools.
It said the allocation of science and commerce streams have been done in an uneven manner which cannot be justified, thus causing grave injustice and prejudice to the pupils here.
Begging should not be a crime if it is done due to poverty, the Centre told the High Court, which wondered if anyone begs out of compulsion or by choice. The Centre’s stand came on two PILs seeking basic human and fundamental rights for beggars in the national capital and for decriminalising begging.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and C Hari Shankar asked, “If anybody beg out of compulsion or choice? Have you ever seen somebody begging out of choice?”
The central government, in an affidavit, said that at present, 20 states and 2 union territories have either enacted their own anti-beggary legislation or adopted the legislation enacted by the other states.
— PTI