The Supreme Court on Thursday (21 January 2016) stayed a Delhi High Court order quashing the 60 percent admission quota for the wards of Group A officers of the All India Central Services in the elite Sanskriti School.
An apex court bench headed by Justice Anil R. Dave, however, said the quota will also cover the children of central government employees of civil, defence and allied services whose jobs are transferable.
The order came after Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the apex court that during a high court hearing, the government had filed an affidavit that the 60 percent quota in admissions would cover the wards of Group A, B and C employees of the central government with transferable jobs. But the court was told that this was not considered by the high court.
Staying the high court order and clearing the decks for admissions in Sanskriti School, the apex court said that no preferential treatment will be accorded to anyone in the admission process.
The apex court had earlier extended time till January 31 for Sanskriti School to accept applications for admission.
The central government and the Sanskriti School moved the apex court challenging the Delhi High Court verdict quashing 60 percent quota in admission for the wards of group A officers of all India services like IAS, IFS and IPS.
The Delhi High Court order of November 6 came after it examined the validity of the 60 percent quota for the children of group A officers.
While quashing the reservation for the children of the top officers belonging to all India services, the high court had said: “Reserving seats for a particular branch of the Indian service disadvantages children of persons engaged in other branches of the Indian services.”
The high court had asked the government to see whether Sanskriti School could be made a part of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan.
The school was allotted land at a premium of Re.1 and a ground rent of Re.1 per annum.
The central government had also declared that various government agencies and ministries donated Rs.15.94 crore to the managing society for setting up the school.
“The state cannot provide funds to any private individual to establish a school for an elite segment of society,” the high court had said.
