Action against the school has been taken following complaints false records and misappropriation of funds
In a first such action, Delhi government is all set to take over two branches of a private unaided school, which faces complaints of violation of rules, following approval by Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung.
The action has been initiated against the Rohini and the Pitampura branches of Maxfort School following several complaints against it including violation of rules in admission to candidates from economically weaker sections (EWS), false records and misappropriation of funds, among others.
The school, which has four branches in Delhi, is currently being run by Chadha Educational Society and S Jagat Singh Chadha Charitable Trust.
The Directorate of Education (DoE) had issued show-cause notices to the two branches of the school in April this year asking the authorities to respond within days.
According to sources, the government was not satisfied with the response and approach of the school authorities towards the issue.
"The Lieutenant Governor gave his nod last night to take over the school against which there were complaints of violation of the Delhi School Education (DSE) Act 1973 and Right to Education Act (RTE) 2009," a source said.
School authorities were not available for their comment on the issue.
Following complaints from the parents' association, DoE had written to the heads of the two schools in March, asking them to declare results of students whose parents were protesting against fee hike.
Complaints of misappropriation funds were referred to the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police and the government had constituted two committees, one under the department of education and the other under the District Magistrate (DM) of north-west Delhi
According to the report, the school had also failed to maintain the service records and personal files of teachers and did not furnish details relating to salary statements of the staff, attendance registers of the staff and other necessary documents.
The school was also found to have collected capitation fees and the management of the schools had violated section 24 of DSE Act, 1973 according to which every recognised school is supposed be inspected at least once in each financial year which could not be done, due to lack of co-operation from the schools' committees. Explaining the modalities of the takeover, a DoE official said the government will take over the management of the school from the private party and appoint an administrator to run it.
"He can be from within the government or from outside but appointed by the government," the official said.
"The school will still remain private, where students will have to pay fees. There will be no change in the principal and teachers of the school and the government will pay salaries to the school staff," the official said.
When the show-cause notices were issued, the school authorities had moved Delhi High Court, terming the action "illegal and against the principle of natural justice".
"The Directorate stated in court that it couldn't find any instance of wrongdoing. As far as EWS admissions are concerned, we haven't even been asked to represent ourselves. What has happened today is illegal and against the principle of natural justice," a senior official from the school had claimed.