The Madras High Court on Monday ordered notices to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the State government on a writ petition filed by an association of educational institutions to clarify whether it was permissible for a school following the State Board syllabus to start another school on the same campus by obtaining affiliation from the CBSE.
Justice R. Mahadevan ordered notices, returnable by two weeks, on the petition preferred by the All India Private Educational Institutions Association, represented by its general secretary K. Palaniyappan. The petitioner association claimed that as on date, there was no clarity on the issue of running two schools within the same campus by following different syllabus.
Advocate E. Vijay Anand, representing the association, stated that neither the Tamil Nadu Recognised Private Schools (Regulation) Rules of 1974 nor the Code of Regulation for Matriculation Schools contain a specific bar on commencing a parallel institution within the same campus by getting the second institution affiliated to the CBSE.
Claiming that the State Government too had reportedly issued a Government Order stating that State Board schools could start CBSE institutions within their campus, the petitioner association stated that the G.O. was, however, not made available to them. Hence, a representation was made to the CBSE as well as the State government on February 6 to clarify the issue. The representation had not been considered till date, it said, and sought for a direction to the respondents to clarify the issue categorically.
