NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Friday permitted the Delhi government to transfer money for school uniforms to the bank accounts of students of economically weaker sections (EWS) and disadvantaged groups in private schools instead of giving them actual uniforms.
A bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Subramonium Prasad passed the order, modifying its 2023 order that uniforms ought to be supplied in kind.
The bench passed the order on a review plea filed by the Delhi government, which cited practical and administrative difficulties in dealing with uniforms. The bench noted the submission and said that the difficulties faced by the government regarding measurement of students and delivering uniforms of correct size to them were “genuine”.
The bench said, “Undoubtedly, it would be impossible to carry-out the exercise of taking measurements of every student, placing orders for different kinds of uniform cloth on the GeM portal, getting the uniforms stitched after procurement of the material as per the measurements, and distributing the uniforms in schools before a new session.”
It said the government’s decision to transfer money to students directly would ensure that the uniforms are available to them in time.
‘In line with RTE Act’
The HC said the govt decision to transfer money to students directly won’t contravene the RTE Act. “... Under the 2011 Rules, there is a mandate to provide uniforms, but the Rules do not state that the govt has to provide uniforms in kind only. So, the insistence of the petitioners that physical uniforms be provided cannot be accepted,” it said.