Free Education in Minority Institutions under RTE: HC to Decide on July 24

 Hyderabad: Whether or not minority education institutions are required to provide free education under the Right to Education Act (RTE) will be judicially considered by the Telangana High Court in a writ plea filed by St. Gabriel Educational Society and others. Justice C.V. Bhaskar Reddy is hearing a writ plea filed by the society, which runs six educational institutions, including All Saints High School and Little Flower High School. The petitioners are challenging the action of the district educational officer, Hyderabad, in instituting RTE proceedings against the minority educational institutions being run under the umbrella of the petitioner society. The petitioner contends that the apex court observed in the famous case law of Pramathi Educational and Cultural Trust clarified that the provisions of the RTE Act cannot be made applicable to a minority educational institution. The petitioner further contends that the RTE proceedings instituted by the district educational officer are contrary to the law and in violation of the provisions of the Constitution. The judge posted the matter for a final hearing on July 24.

State poll chief asked to consider plea against Alair MLA’s ‘false’ affidavit

A two-judge panel of the Telangana High Court directed chief electoral officer to consider the representation qua alleged misrepresentation of facts in an affidavit filed by Beerla Ilaiah, MLA, Alair constituency. The panel, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J. Anil Kumar, was dealing with a writ petition filed by Bodusu Mahesh. It is the case of the petitioner that the state election commission and other officials failed to consider the representation made by him on May 29. The petitioner alleged that Ilaiah had furnished false information in his affidavit at the time of elections on November 30, 2023. The panel, expressing no opinion on merits, directed the respondent authorities to consider the representation of petitioner in accordance with law within three weeks. The panel also made it clear that, before passing any adverse orders, the authorities must also afford an opportunity of the personal hearing to the Ilaiah.

HC to examine four per cent quota enhancement of STs

The Telangana High Court will examine the legality of the government decision enhancing reservations for Schedule Tribes. Justice Surepalli Nanda took on file a writ plea filed by a 23-year-old student Srirama Srilekha, challenging GO. MS. No. 33 dated 30.09.2022 (GO), issued by the Telangana Tribal Welfare Department (TTWD). The petitioner complained that GO enhanced the reservations for the STs from six percent to 10 per cent in education and state government services, resulting in breach of the upper ceiling limit of 50 per cent reservation. The petitioner contended that the enhanced ceiling limit had moved to 54 per cent. The petitioner stated that the aforesaid enhancement of reservations by the respondent authorities is illegal and in violation of various articles of the Constitution. After hearing the petitioner, the judge required the TTWD and other departments to file their response and posted the matter for further adjudication.

Consider promotions on seniority basis, DEO told

Justice Pulla Karthik of the Telangana High Court passed an interim direction to the director of school education and the district educational officer, Jayashankar Bhoopalapally district to consider the promotion of individuals based on their seniority and eligibility in the ongoing counselling. The writ plea was filed by K. Thirupathi Reddy and eight others, challenging the action of the respondent authorities in not considering the promotion of the petitioners to the post of school assistant (Social studies/maths/physical science/English) as per their seniority and eligibility in the existing notified vacancies. The petitioners alleged that though their names were included next in the seniority list of respective subjects, they were not being considered for promotion. The petitioners further allege that the respondent authorities were issuing promotion orders for two or three positions to the same person citing errors in their web portal and software and treated the vacant post as relinquished. The judge, after hearing the petitioner, passed interim direction and posted the matter for further adjudication.