A few months after the state education department rejected the recognition to Rao Junior Colleges in the city, the Bombay high court (HC) on Wednesday allowed them to conduct admissions for the current academic year.
In response to a writ petition filed by Rao Educational Trust, a bench of justice Milind Jadhav and justice KK Tated observed that as per the Maharashtra Self-Financed Schools (Establishment and Regulation Act), 2012, “no order or withdrawal of permission shall be passed unless a reasonable opportunity of being heard is given to such trust or society or local authority”.
According to the petitioner, the department had not given a chance to be heard. The court has further asked the education department to give a personal hearing to the college within a period of four weeks from the date of the order.
Meanwhile, the HC has asked the department to direct the competent authority to ‘publish supplementary notification on the website of standard 11 Centralised Admission Process 2020-21 for Mumbai Metropolitan Region giving information about the petitioner’s colleges for admissions to FYJC Science’.
The court order further states that while students are entitled to admissions in the five junior colleges run by the group, it will be ‘subject to outcome of the present litigation’. Similarly, students admitted for Class 12 in the colleges under Rao group can continue to study there.
In July, the education department had cracked a whip against eight junior colleges, including five of the Rao group, in the city for not following norms with respect to infrastructure.
Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai-news/bombay-hc-allows-rao-junior-colleges-to-conduct-admissions/story-8vrhI4FDtBcs56CANpesKM.html