The judgement has been reserved by the Andhra Pradesh High Court on the petition challenging Government Order (GO) number 24 which was issued by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. The GO asks parents to adjust the school fees of private schools where their wards have secured seats under the Right To Education (RTE) Act's 25% reservation quota, stated a report in The New Indian Express.
Koganti Srikanth, President, Independent Schools Management Association; Gollapudi Mohana, Chairman, United Private Educational Institutions' Federation and others had filed a petition challenging the Government Order. What they wanted was that the fee to be directly credited to the schools instead of the account of the students' mother. They argue that the fee structure of 25% quote was not decided appropriately and was done unilaterally by the state government.
But Advocate General S Sriram put up the argument that the fee structure was decided keeping in mind the rules and regulations of the RTE. These rules mandate that 25% of seats in private schools should be reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), Backward Class (BC) and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS).
The Advocate General also stated that Rs 7,000 is the amount that the government is spending on each student. He went on to object to the petitioners' argument that quota in private schools should be filled only after admissions in the government schools is completed.
Justice G Ramakrishna reserved the judgement after hearing the arguments that were presented by both sides.