HC directs authorities to grant RTE admission to 6-year-old girl in Kolhapur, rejects registered rent agreement clause

Kolhapur: The Kolhapur bench of the Bombay high court has directed education authorities to process within five days the Right to Education (RTE) admission application of a six-year-old girl whose claim was rejected over lack of a registered rent agreement.The court observed that the girl’s right to admission in the school in the vicinity cannot be defeated merely because of non-registration of the leave and licence agreement. “It amounts to tinkering/militating against the fundamental right of the petitioner,” Justice Sachin S Deshmukh said.The girl, who’s the petitioner, approached the HC through her father after her application was rejected by the verification committee. She had been shortlisted for admission through the online portal. She submitted the notarised affidavit, showing that the family lived in a rented apartment which is not more than 100m from the school to which she had applied.The RTE Act helps students gets admission in unaided private schools, and 25% of seats in such schools are reserved for families who fit the criteria.Lawyer Ahilya Nalawade, who represented the petitioner, said, “The girl belongs to an economically and socially weaker section. She sought admission in Std 1 for the 2026-27 academic year through the 25% reserved quota under RTE. She was selected by lottery process. When her father visited the verification committee constituted to check records, he was orally informed that the rent agreement for the residence proof must be a registered document.”Nalawade said, “The girl’s father was told that if there is no registered document, the admission will not be given. He was shown the communication dated April 4 this year by the director (primary) Pune Education, which referred to a govt resolution of 2016 which maintained necessity of registered rent agreement.”The lawyer said the petition challenged the communication and the GR stating that there is no such condition in the Act, and that the authorities cannot refuse to accept a notarised ‘rent agreement’ as proof of residence.“In any case, the said stipulation shall not be weaponized by the authorities to cause any delay or defeat the petitioner’s admission. The affidavit of the parent's indicating the age and residence of the child shall be sufficient to ensure the admission of the petitioner to the school indicated in application in view of Section 12(1) of the Act of 2009,” stated the court order.The court ordered to manually process the application and grant provisional admission while conferring the benefits to which the petitioner is lawfully entitled under freeship or any other quota. The court directed the education officer, primary, Kolhapur zilla parishad, to ensure enrolment of the petitioner’s name in student database.The deputy director of education Kolhapur has been told to monitor that the order is complied with and the petitioner is not prevented in any manner from getting admitted in the 2026-27 academic year starting June 10. The court will hear the matter next on June 11.