CHAITANYA HIGH SCHOOL Vs. GOVERNMENT OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The writ petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, declaring the action of the respondents in sanctioning the scholarships to Best Available Schools in SPSR Nellore District discriminately very low amounts comparing to BAS schools in other districts and consequently direct the respondents to enhance the scholarships to the total eligible amount i.e. Rs.20,000.00 per head per year as recommended by the District Level Committee by crediting all such arrears to the petitioners under ePASS.

(2.) The petitioners are selected as the Best Available Schools (BAS) in Nellore District as per the scheme, which have been operating since 2008 and are officially recognized by the Departments of Social Welfare and Tribal Welfare for providing education to the tribal communities in the area. The Government of Andhra Pradesh has offered a pre-metric scholarship of Rs.20,000.00 per year per student, intended to cover expenses for textbooks, stationery, shelter, food, and overall education and boarding, as per G.O.Ms.No.70 SW (TW Edn.II) Department, dtd. 1/8/2001. In line with this, the petitioners registered with the District Level Committee to offer highquality education along with hostelling services to underprivileged tribal students from Class V to Class X. However, while other schools received the full scholarship amount of Rs.20,000.00 metric scholarship from the Tribal and Social Welfare authorities, the petitioners' schools were only allocated between Rs.8,000.00 and Rs.20,000.00 seemingly at the discretion of the authorities. Although the District Level Committee submitted recommendations confirming that the petitioners' schools are also maintaining standards in line with the BAS Scheme, but due consideration was not given. Despite the petitioners submitting numerous representations to the authorities requesting the merging of scholarship amounts, no action has been taken. Hence the present writ petition.

(3.) A counter affidavit is filed on behalf of the respondents. It is submitted that, as per G.O.Ms.No.70 dtd. 1/8/2001, the amount of scholarships payable for a student will be decided by DLC/SLC as follows: