All schools, barring unaided minority institutions, will have to set aside 25 per cent of their seats for disadvantaged sections in the neighbourhood, the Supreme Court ruled today. The top court settled the question by upholding the relevant clause in the right to education law, saying that “advancement of education is a recognised head of charity” and rejecting a slew of petitions filed by several unaided schools. Since the act deals with...

-The Hindu   The Supreme Court on Thursday said “every citizen has a right to establish and administer educational institution[s] under Article 19(1) (g) so long as the activity remains charitable. Such an activity undertaken by the private institutions supplements the primary obligation of the state. Thus, the state can regulate by law the activities of the private institutions by imposing reasonable restrictions under Article 19(6).” A Bench of Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia...

With the Supreme Court throwing its full weight behind the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, (better known as the Right to Education Act or RTE Act) on Thursday, the composition of students in schools as well as the economics of running schools will undergo dramatic changes. The apex court upheld the constitutional validity of the Act and directed all schools, including privately-run schools, irrespective of the...

‘Unless media freedom to report court proceedings is protected, the right to know will be impaired”   Freedom of the press cannot be compromised with any other fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution, senior counsel Anil Divan argued in the Supreme Court on Wednesday. Continuing his submissions before a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice of India S.H. Kapadia, counsel said the right conferred under Article 19 (1) (a) though not absolute...

-The Telegraph Former law minister Shanti Bhushan today urged the Supreme Court to dissolve a five-judge Constitution bench set up to lay down dos and don’ts for media reporting on sub judice cases, saying it was “detrimental to the rights of the press and would destroy democracy”. Bhushan cited an earlier example in which a former Chief Justice of India (CJI) had dissolved a bench after he found no support. He was referring...