Schools get notice for not reserving seats

Shruti Maheshwari

New Delhi, September 10

The Delhi government has served show-cause notices on several prominent schools, who haven't reserved 20 per cent of their seats for weaker sections of the society.

Greenfields Public School-GTB Enclave, Guru Harkrishan Public School-Shahdara, Mirambika Free Progress School, Laxman Public School-Hauz Khas, Delhi Public School-Mathura Road, Delhi Public School-Vasant Kunj and Amity International School-Saket are among those who have got notices from the Delhi Directorate of Education. They have 15 days to file replies.

As many as 81 show-cause notices were issued on September 9 because these schools hadn't admitted the required number of students till July 31.

"If the replies are not satisfactory, appropriate action leading up to de-recognition could also be taken," said Delhi education director Rajendra Kumar.

In the details furnished before the High Court on Wednesday, the directorate has divided defaulting schools into two categories. As many as 56 schools that haven't given any data about admissions have been served with show-cause notices. Twenty-five schools that have filled the quota partially have been labeled "major defaulters", and they too have got notices.

Modern School-Vasant Vihar, Mother's International School, Carmel Convent-Chanakyapuri, Modern School-Barakhamba, Ryan International School, St, Xaviers Sr. Sec School-Raj Niwas Marg, Presentation Convent Sr. Sec. School-SP Mukherjee Marg and St. Columbas School-Ashok Place are in the first category. Private and unaided schools admitted 42,080 students after the government made reservation compulsory.

Of these, 7,698 admissions were under the quota — almost 1,700 short of the desired figure.

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Some defaulters

• DPS, Vasant Kunj Block C, admitted one pupil under quota of 193 admi-ssions — defaulted by 37
• Amity International, Saket, admitted 15 in 248 — defaulted by 49
• Greenfields Public School, Dilshad Garden, admitted 3 in 158 — defaulted by 31
• Birla Vidya Niketan, Pus-hp Vihar, admitted none in 53 — defaulted by 10

School scamster, gullible parents

The Economic Offences Wing has arrested a man for duping 10 people of nearly Rs 30 lakh on the false assurance of securing admission for their children in prominent unaided schools in Delhi.

Praveen Khanna (40) reportedly duped gullible parents by claiming to have high contacts in schools like Modern School, DPS, Springdales, Sanskriti and others.Khanna was arrested following a complaint by Viraj Singh, who paid him Rs 3 lakh for his son's admission.

Khanna reportedly approached Singh and convinced him that he could get his son into Modern School. He showed Singh several documents purportedly written by a trustee of the school's managing committee to convince him that he could get the job done. He also showed him letters from ministries and school authorities.

Several meetings followed but Singh later met the school authorities and realised he had been conned.If the child — by merit or chance — got admission, Khanna charged the parents another Rs 50,000 as commission. If the admission wasn't secured, he kept dilly-dallying till the parents gave up.

If they persisted, he threatened them by producing false summons issued by the EOW. On a few occasions, he paid back some of the money after making a final settlement.

Deputy commissioner of police (EOW) Dinesh Bhatt Khanna said the police was probing the possibility of the involvement of various school authorities.