HC asks govt to frame RTE rules in 6 wks

The Madras high court has directed the Tamil Nadu school education department to finalise and publish the rules for the Right to Education Act within six weeks. The first bench comprising Chief Justice M Y Eqbal and Justice T S Sivagnanam delivering its order on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by advocate S Sathia Chandran, who said that though the act has laudable provisions, it could be translated into action only if they are implemented rigorously. In order to do so, rules should be framed under the act.

Unless rules are framed, the implementation of the act would suffer, even to the detriment of the objects of the act, the petition said. The rules are meant to specify provisions of the act such as the manner and extent of reimbursement of expenditure for admission of children belonging to weaker sections and disadvantaged groups to the extent of 25% of the strength of a class; the area or limits for establishment of a neighbourhood school; manner of giving special training and the time limit for completion of elementary education by children who have never been admitted or who have dropped out.

While the central government framed the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules and got the same notified in the Gazette ofIndia on April 9, 2010, it took a direction from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) for the state government to put up a copy of the draft rules seven months later. The direction came as a result of a two-day hearing in the city on violations of the RTE Act during which members of the NCPCR, including chairperson Shantha Sinha and RTE national coordinator Kiran Bhatty, heard cases from across the state on the issue. The draft rules were put up on the website of the school education department and suggestions were invited from interested parties before December 20, 2010. "It appears that a number of suggestions have come from stakeholders namely educationists, parents, teachers, members of civil society and RTE activists.

Subsequently, the department extended the deadline to January 5, 2011, following requests from NGOs. The department ought to have finalised the draft rules immediately thereafter and notified the same so that the rules could have come into force at least in the current academic year, i.e. 2011-12," the petition said. "However, the process of finalising and notifying the rules is getting delayed and as a result the implementation of the said act is totally hampered and the object effectively scuttled," the petition said. It was submitted that the delay had prompted private schools to remain insensitive to their obligation and duties under the act.