'Need Not Link RTE with NEP': What Madras HC Said While Urging Centre to Release TN's Funds
New Delhi: Amid the ongoing tussle over the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP), the Madras high court has on Tuesday (June 10) said that the union ministry of education can consider splitting the disbursal of funds to the Tamil Nadu government under the Samagra Shiksha scheme (SSS) so that the funds required under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act for private schools can be released.
A division bench of Justices G.R. Swaminathan and V. Lakshminarayanan said that the Union government and the state have concurrent responsibilities in providing funds under the RTE Act, The Hindu has reported.
The court said that as a civil suit had already been filed by the Tamil Nadu government demanding the release of funds under the scheme, a "binding" direction cannot be issued and instead asked the centre to "consider" delinking the RTE from the SSS funds.
“Section 7 of the RTE Act states that the Central government and the State governments have concurrent responsibility for providing funds for carrying out the provisions of the Act... Therefore, funds payable to the state government representing the central government’s share towards discharging the RTE obligations need not be linked to NEP 2020,” the court was quoted as saying.
Amid the ongoing row between the Union and the Tamil Nadu government over the implementation of the NEP, the total amount pending to Tamil Nadu under the SSS amounts to Rs 2,151.59 crore. The RTE component on the other hand is about Rs 200 crore.
The bench said that the Union government has an independent obligation under the RTE Act of 2009, which has nothing to do with non-adoption of NEP. It also told the Tamil Nadu government that not having received funds from the Centre cannot be used as a “reason to wriggle out” of its own obligation to pay the private schools.
“The State government has an obligation to reimburse private unaided schools. Non-receipt of funds from the Union Government cannot be cited as a reason to wriggle out of this statutory obligation,” the court said.
During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) A.R.L. Sundaresan said to the court there will be issues in disbursement of funds as SSS was aligned with the provisions of NEP and was an integrated scheme sees education as a continuum from pre-school to Class 12. He also said that it was the primary responsibility of the State government to implement the RTE Act.
The judges however said that both the centre as well as the state governments were obligated to implement the Act.
During the recent budget session of parliament the tussle between DMK government and the centre over the implementation of the NEP had reached parliament with the DMK accusing the centre of withholding funds. Union minister for education Dharmendra Pradhan accused the DMK government of being “dishonest,” “ruining the future of Tamil Nadu students,” calling them “uncivilised,” “undemocratic” and alleged that the party was using language for politics to deny the state’s students of a pan-India education model, while the DMK accused the minister of insulting the state.
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