BIRENDER SINGH Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE son of the petitioner, namely, Harsh Yadav, is studying in Class V in a Central School and his date of birth is 21.4.2003. According to the petitioner, his son is quite keen to join Rashtriya Military School (for short ,,RMS) so that he can enter Armed Forces through National Defence Academy (NDA) and has been making preparations for the entrance examination held by RMS for admission to the VI standard. Till the academic year 2013 -2014, the children in the age bracket 10 -12 years as on 1st July of the year of admission were eligible for taking admission to the RMS. However, for the academic year 2014 -2015, only the children in the age group of 10 -11 years as on 1.7.2014 are eligible for admission to the said schools. Since under the new eligibility norms, the son of the petitioner is not eligible for taking admission to RMS, his application to appear in the entrance examination has been rejected. Being aggrieved, the petitioner is before this Court with the following prayers:

(2.) THE learned Additional Solicitor General, who appears on advance notice, has placed on record a copy of the Minutes of the 19th meeting of the Central Governing Council for RMS held on 24.8.2011. To the extent it is relevant the said minutes read as under:

(3.) AS regards the cut off date to determine the eligibility in the matter of age, the learned Additional Solicitor General submits that the cut off date has all over been 1st July and the same is in line with the cut off date of NDA which are January and July each year.