Madras HC says funds payable by Centre to state to implement RTE need not be linked to NEP
The Madras high court on Tuesday observed that the funds payable by the Union government towards the state government to implement the Right to Education (RTE) Act need not be linked to the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
'It is true that implementation of the Samagra Shiksha Scheme (SSS) is aligned to NEP 2020. But then, obligation under the RTE Act is independent by itself…. We, therefore, direct the Central Government to consider de-linking the RTE component of SSS and disburse the funds accordingly,' the high court said in its orders.
The issue has been raging in Tamil Nadu, where the ruling DMK has lamented about lack of central funds in various spheres including education. The state has refused to implement the NEP in full. A bench of justices GR Swaminathan and V Lakshminarayanan who reserved the orders in the case during vacation sitting in May pronounced them on Monday. It was based on a writ filed by a petitioner V Eswaran in public interest seeking a direction to the school education department in the state and Centre to initiate the admission process under RTE immediately for the current academic year. Though the admission must happen before the academic year commences, until the second week of May, steps were not taken to receive applications online, the petitioner had contended.
'Section 7 of the Act states that the Central Government and the State Governments have concurrent responsibility for providing funds for carrying out the provisions of the Act. Section 7(3) of the Act mandates that the Central Government shall provide to the State Government as grant in aid of revenues such percentage of expenditure referred in sub-section 2 as it may determine from time to time in consultation of the State Governments. Therefore, funds payable to the State Government representing the Central Government's share towards discharging the RTE obligations need not be linked to NEP 2020,' the court said.
Since the state government had moved the Supreme Court on the issue, the high court said, 'we are not in a position to issue any binding direction in this regard.'
The total sum for the financial year 2024-25 towards SSS is ₹3,585.99 crores. The share of the Central Government is said to be ₹2,151.59 crores. 'The RTE component must be less than ₹200.00 crores. There cannot be any difficulty in releasing the Central Government's share under this head. We, therefore, direct the Central Government to consider de-linking the RTE component of SSS and disburse the funds accordingly,' the court said.
Additional advocate general J Ravindran, appearing for the state government, while conceding that the private school managements are entitled to reimbursement, contended that this responsibility has to be shared between the Central and the state Governments.
He added that unfortunately, the State has not been paid its legitimate dues and as a result, the State Government is not able to reimburse the school managements in time. His stand was that due to non-release of funds by the Union government, the expenditure towards RTE reimbursement to the schools under Section 12(1)(c) of the Act to the tune of ₹188.99 crores for the year 2022-23 was borne in entirety by the Government of Tamil Nadu and for the last two years reimbursements have not been made.
Additional solicitor general ARL Sundaresan pointed out that since the State Government has not agreed to implement NEP 2020, there are issues regarding disbursement of funds. He pointed out that in view of Section 7(5) of the Act, it is the State Government that is primarily responsible for implementing the RTE Act.
The moot question the court considered is whether the State Government can default in fulfilling its statutory and constitutional obligation by citing non-receipt of funds from the Union Government. It, '...leads us to the irresistible conclusion that the State Government is obliged to commence the admission process under the RTE Act,' the court said and directed the state government to make reimbursements by adhering to the timeline laid down in the Act.
'Non-receipt of funds from the Union government cannot be cited as a reason to wriggle out of this statutory obligation,' the court said. 'Having issued the aforesaid directions to the state government, we call upon the Central government to discharge its obligations under the Act.'
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