SC seeks education secretary’s reply on plea to regulate all schools

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to T K Anil Kumar, Secretary of the Department of School Education and Literacy, on a contempt plea alleging he failed to act on a representation seeking regulation of all institutions that educate or give religious instruction to children below 14. A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu gave him four weeks to reply.

The contempt plea was filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, who had earlier been directed by the court on May 11 to first submit a representation to the government. Upadhyay's petition argues that unregistered and unrecognised institutions, particularly along the Uttar Pradesh border, are proliferating without oversight. It claims children are vulnerable to manipulation in such settings.

The petition asks the court to declare that Article 30 of the Constitution does not give minorities any extra rights beyond Article 19(1)(g), and seeks a direction to register, recognise, supervise and monitor all such institutions. The secretary must file his response within four weeks.