The Bombay High Court on Monday said the Maharashtra government shall not take any adverse action against schools presently conducting online classes for students of Class 2 and below.

A division bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and N R Borkar was hearing a bunch petition filed by Parents Teachers Associations of United Forum and a few parents challenging a government resolution (GR) issued on June 15 which prohibited schools from conducting online classes for students of Class 2 and below.

The petitioners' advocates Mihir Desai and Swaraj Jadhav argued that the state government had issued notices to a few schools in Mumbai and Nagpur threatening to initiate action against them for continuing to conduct online classes for Classes 2 and below.

The state government, on Monday, sought time to file an affidavit in response to the plea and objected to any interim relief being granted to these schools. The bench, however, noted the petitioners themselves are parents who want their children to learn.

The bench, while posting the petition for hearing in August, said, in the meanwhile, no action shall be taken against the schools which are continuing to conduct online classes for students of Class 2 and below even after the GR was issued.

The court also said schools conducting online classes for students of Class 2 and below shall not take any action against any student whose parents have decided to not attend the online classes. The petitioners claimed to prohibit online classes for students of Class 2 and below was discriminatory and keeping them away from education.