BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Education Tribunal (OET) has held that the State government is not bound to release grant-in-aid (GIA) to schools within one year of its functioning and there is no fundamental right to claim the same.
High schools in educationally backward districts and girls high schools across the State may be considered for sanction of minimum grant-in-aid after one year of their students appearing the High School Certificate Examination, but it is not incumbent upon the State government to do so, the tribunal observed in its recent order.
Hearing a petition filed by headmistress in-charge of Braja Kishore Girls High School of Bentapur in Puri Meena Kumari Baral, assistant teacher Sanjukta Mishra and clerk Suresh Chandra Prusty seeking grant-in-aid from 1994 instead of June 1997, the tribunal ordered that the Sub-Order 12 of the GIA Order-1994, that contains this provision, is not incumbent upon the government to follow.
The tribunal made it clear that the Sub-Order 12 can not be read in isolation of Sub-Order 16 and 17, which clearly states that grant-in-aid can not be paid to a person who is not qualified to be appointed to the post he/she holds or to the institute which has failed to achieve the results in public examinations determined by the government during the unaided period or as a matter of right.
Standing counsel Kishore Das, representing the School and Mass Education department, argued that as per Clause-3 of the Sub-Order 17, no educational institution can claim grant-in-aid from the government as a matter of right.