Kendriya Vidyalaya’s decision to deny admission upheld

Chennai: Madras high court has upheld the decision of Kendriya Vidyalaya School in Coimbatore, denying first standard admission to a girl student since her parents furnished incorrect details in the online application form.

Justice S. Vaidyanathan dismissed the petition filed by V. Raeshmi, minor, represented by her father and natural guardian Venkataraman, which sought to direct the Kendriya Vidyalaya at Sulur in Coimbatore district to give first standard admission to his daughter for the academic year 2018-2019.

According to petitioner, he was working as marketing manager in a private concern. His wife has completed Ph.D and working as an Associate Professor in a private college. He applied for admission of his daughter in first standard and the admission was shown in the provisional select list. She was called for admission on April 3, 2018, and that the school had denied admission to his daughter on the ground that they were residing more than five kilometres radius away from the school.

The judge said there were incorrect particulars in the online application form of the child. It has been mentioned that the parents do not belong to low income group and in the community column, it was mentioned as OBC (non-creamy layer). Further, there is discrepancy in the distance of school from the residence, in one place showing as seven km but in Form it was 16.5 km, which was more than 10 km from the school.

Also, the mother was shown to have been employed as Associate Professor in KG College of Health Science and the father’s occupation was shown as business, but in the typed set of papers filed along with the petition, the father’s employer certificate was shown as having been employed in Sri Hari Polymers as marketing manager. The parents should have disclosed the income particulars of the mother, including the income tax returns.

 Moreover, as relied on by the counsel for the petitioner, with regard to the distance from the school and the residence, as per the guidelines for admission in Kendriya Vidyalaya (2018-19) issued by Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, the proof of residence has to be produced by all applicants. It was no doubt true that in the said guidelines, it was stated that the admission cannot be denied due to non-submission of proof of residence and a self-declaration in writing from the parent about distance may also be accepted.

But in the case on hand, the applicant has shown incorrect particulars in the online application form, which itself shows that the petitioner was not entitled to the relief sought for in the petition, the judge added.