New Delhi, March 12 (IANS): The Delhi High Court Wednesday suspended the nursery admission process in the capital till March 24.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Siddharth Mridul also blocked the fresh draw of lots in the nursery admission process for all seats.
It asked the Delhi government to furnish details related to nursery admissions in unaided private schools.
"The draw of lots shall not take place. No admission be made till next date of hearing," said the bench, posting the matter for March 24.
The court was hearing an appeal of some parents who challenged the March 6 single judge order that the city government conduct a fresh draw of lots in the nursery admission process for all seats.
The single judge's order said all candidates with equal marks shall be considered equal and their admission decided by a draw of lots.
The parents filing the appeal said their wards were already declared selected for nursery admissions after the draw of lots and would have to repeat the process after the single judge's order.
While the children have been selected in the first draw of lots, if a second draw of lots was conducted, their probability of getting selected would come down considerably, the parents said.
During the hearing, a child's mother who was transferred to Delhi and had applied under the inter-state transfer category broke down in court, saying that if the March 6 order was lifted she would lose the opportunity of sending her child to a good school.
Directing the Delhi government to furnish details relating to nursery admissions in unaided private schools, the bench said: "You are the one who created this mess. What is your stand?"
The dispute began after the Delhi government Feb 27 issued a notification scrapping the inter-state transfer category under which it used to give five additional points to children whose parents were transferred to the capital from another state.
While this notification was not suspended by the high court, Justice Manmohan ordered a fresh draw of lots for all seats where the allotment was affected by the quashing of the inter-state transfer category.
Justice Manmohan said that if draw of lots was not held amongst candidates who had secured equal marks, "it would result in discrimination and disadvantage to a few candidates".