A plea was moved in the Delhi High Court on Friday seeking direction to restrain schools here from using their buildings to run commercial activities like selling of books and uniforms. The Public Interest litigation (PIl) on this issue came before a Bench headed by Chief Justice G Rohini, who listed it for consideration on March 22.
The plea urged the court to enforce the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) February 21, 2011 circular, by which the schools across India were directed not to use their premises for any commercial activity or have shops to sell books, uniforms or stationery in the school campus.
The plea was submitted by social worker Sunil Pokhriyal. He said that though the Board has given parents a free hand to purchase these items from the open market at a competitive price, but the public schools are not letting this to happen.
It alleged that the shops inside schools are being run by the people known to the school management and the institutions made “willful gain” from these businesses. “A pair of shoes, which is available at around Rs500 in the market, costs Rs1,200-1,500 when sold through the school’s store,” the plea alleged.