Satisfied with the initiatives taken up by the state government, the Gujarat High Court on Friday disposed of a public interest litigation (PIL) alleging irregularities and lack of transparency in the admission of children from economically weaker section of the society in private schools under the Right to Education (RTE) Act. The PIL filed by activist Sandip Munjyasara was disposed of by the division bench of Acting Chief Justice AS Dave and Justice Biren Vaishnav.

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The bench remarked that they are satisfied with the efforts of the state government's effective implementation of the provisions of RTE Act. The bench further added that the entire exercise for admission under the RTE Act has been carried out by following a procedure adopted by the state government. The remarks came after the state government submitted an affidavit informing the court about the latest figures related to RTE admissions and availability of a grievance redressal mechanism for parents.

According to the affidavit submitted on Friday by Shankar Chaudhari, state government's deputy director (primary education), it has been claimed that the government had extended the date for filing online applications under RTE to April 25 and for submitting documents in the receiving centres till April 29. The government has also stated that widespread publicity of the scheme and the important dates concerning RTE admissions have been carried out across the state.

Revealing the updated figures related to RTE admissions, the affidavit revealed that 2.45 lakh online applications were received till April 24, whereas the centres have received around 1.80 lakh applications till date. The government informed the court that only 1.17 lakh seats are available in class-I in private schools across the state under the 25 per cent free admission quota under RTE.

Responding to an earlier query of the court, the state government, on Friday, submitted in its affidavit that all 572 receiving centres across Gujarat have a complaint register where parents can write their grievances related to RTE admissions. It also added that all the district education officers (DEOs) and district primary education officers (DPEOs) have been instructed to resolve the grievances of parents on priority basis.

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Responding to an earlier query of the court, the state government submitted in its affidavit that all 572 receiving centres have a complaint register where parents can write their grievances related to RTE