HC relief for pvt coaching institutes

PATNA: The Patna high court on Tuesday stayed the July 31 order of the state's education department through which it had prohibited all coaching institutes in Bihar from running operations between 9am and 4pm.

A single bench of justice Mohit Kumar Shah, while hearing the writ application filed by the Coaching Association of Bharat through its secretary Sudhir Kumar Singh and others, passed the order. The court also sought a reply from the additional chief secretary (ACS) of the state's education department in this regard.

Petitioners' counsels Abhinav Srivastava and Roushan Kumar informed the court that the order was issued arbitrarily by the ACS of the education department without taking into consideration the stipulations of the Bihar Coaching Institutes (Control & Regulation) Rules. "There is no provision in the Rules for restrictions in holding coaching classes. The departmental letter was in violation of the fundamental rights of citizens of carrying out any occupation, trade or business," they argued.

Finding force in the arguments, the court stayed the order. The court will now take up the matter after six weeks.