Disburse RTE funds to TN, Madras HC tells Centre

IN a significant ruling, the Madras High Court has held that the centre's obligation to disburse its share of funds to Tamil Nadu towards reimbursement of fees for students admitted in private schools under the Right to Education (RTE) Act is an independent responsibility and it need not be linked with the implementation of the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP).

- R SIVAKUMAR @ Chennai

The state government has the non-derogable obligation to reimburse the fee to private unaided schools and non-receipt of funds from the union government cannot be cited as a reason to wriggle out of that statutory obligation, the court said. A division bench of Justices GR Swaminathan and V Lakshminarayanan issued the ruling while disposing of a public interest litigation petition filed by Coimbatore-based activist V Eswaran praying for directions to the state government to commence admissions under the RTE Act for 2025-26.