JK HC maintains status quo on the govt's order seeking to close private schools on state land

The Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has asked the authorities of the Union Territory to maintain status quo on an order which directed the private schools established on state land to cease operations. The court gave this judgement on Wednesday, June 22.

The case was being heard by Justice Moksha Khajuria Kazmi, who ordered that the state respondents should maintain the status quo till the next hearing, which is scheduled on July 18. While issuing a notice to the Union Territory's administration, the high court gave three weeks' time for filing objections to the current petition, as per a PTI report.

The petition was filed by the Jammu and Kashmir Private Schools' Association, which had approached the high court against an order passed by the education department asking private schools to get a certificate of the nature of their land from concerned revenue officials. The step taken to close private schools operating on the state land came after the UT government banned and announced the closure of several schools operated by the Falah-e-Aam Trust earlier in the month.

According to the PTI report, many small private schools have been established on state land across Jammu and Kashmir. Some of the major missionary schools are also operating on state land leased to them. And it was not clear whether the order to close down the private schools on state land applied to these big schools as well.