Now Reading: Bombay High Court orders Maharashtra to fix RTE reimbursement timelines
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Bombay High Court orders Maharashtra to fix RTE reimbursement timelines
Bombay High Court orders Maharashtra to fix RTE reimbursement timelines
The Bombay High Court has directed the Maharashtra government to review the reimbursement mechanism under the Right to Education (RTE) Act and prescribe definite timelines for processing proposals. A division bench was…
The Story in Brief
The Bombay High Court has directed the Maharashtra government to review the reimbursement mechanism under the Right to Education (RTE) Act and prescribe definite timelines for processing proposals. A division bench was hearing a contempt petition by schools alleging wilful breach of an earlier order. The state assured the court it will release admissible dues within four weeks, by September 4, 2026. The court noted that neither the RTE Rules nor the state notification prescribe any timeline, causing proposals to remain pending for years and burdening schools financially. It also observed that 133 writ petitions seeking RTE reimbursement were filed between January and August 2026 alone.
The Indian Opinion
The narrative that the state is deliberately starving schools of funds ignores the court's own finding: no timelines exist in the rules. The government must verify proposals before releasing public money, but indefinite delay is not scrutiny. The real test is whether the promised committee, with finance and education department officers, will set binding deadlines and a monitoring mechanism. The 133 petitions filed in just seven months of 2026 show the system is broken. Will the committee produce a timeline order before the next monsoon?
Source: livelaw.in
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
