Directing authorities to file their replies, a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said the next hearing will be on November 28.
The Delhi High Court has issued notice to the Centre, the Delhi government and the CBSE on a plea which claimed that inadequate facilities were being provided to students at the senior secondary level who want to opt for science or commerce streams. Directing authorities to file their replies, a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said the next hearing will be on November 28.
According to the plea, filed by Yusuf Naqi, the lack of facilities meant that students were unable to choose a profession of their choice. It said that there are 41 government schools in Central Delhi, of which only two offered science. As a result, students wishing to pursue the stream have to travel outside their district of residence to institutions which were “already sparsely situated, scarce and overcrowded”. Highlighting that the distribution of government schools offering science and commerce streams at intermediate level was “alarmingly uneven”, the plea said that as per government records, “there were shadow pockets in different regions of Delhi, where the schools did not offer science and commerce stream in their academic curriculum”.
As the non-uniform distribution of schools was causing “grave injustice and prejudice” to the students, the plea said the court could issue directions to authorities to file a blueprint or roadmap within 15 days, detailing the manner in which the issue was to be dealt with. The plea added that authorities could facilitate free transportation to science and commerce students, who have to travel more than 3 km. It said the court could also provide a relaxation of 20% in minimum required attendance to such students.
