NISHANTH JALADI Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Writ Petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking to declare the action of respondents in denying admission for 1st Class in P.M.ShriKendriya Vidyalaya No.2, Vijayawada, Region Hyderabad (RTE Lottery No.18) as illegal and arbitrary and consequently direct the respondents to provide admission to petitioner's son in the aforementioned School.

(2.) It is the case of the petitioner that he belongs to Scheduled Caste community. He is a daily wage employee working in and around Vijayawada as painter. In response to Online Notification dtd. 7/3/2025, he applied for admission of his son Nishanth Jaladi in 1st Class in Kendriya Vidyalaya schools of viz. P.M. Shri K.V. Nos.1 and 2 in Vijayawada region. As per the Notification/instructions, up to three choices of KendriyaVidyalayas without any preference between them, can be given i.e. one can apply up to three KendriyaVidyalayas using the same online application form. Distance between residence of the petitioner and P.M.ShriKendriya Vidyalaya No.1 is less than 5 KMs, and the other P.M. Shri Kendriya Vidyalaya is more than 5 KMs from the residence of petitioner. It is the case of the petitioner that his son is eligible for admission under RTE norms, and in pursuance of application No.252540109382813365, through lottery, his son was allotted P.M. Shri Kendriya Vidyalaya No.2, Vijayawada with lottery No.18 in RTE Lottery result. Accordingly, he approached the School on 29/3/2025 and 1/4/2025 for admission, but the Principal of 4th respondent school informed him that admission cannot be given as distance of his residence which is disclosed in the application form, to the School is more than 5 KMs.

(3.) Counter affidavit, deposed by 3rd respondent, is filed on behalf of respondents 1 to 4, inter alia, stating as follows. Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) issued Admission schedule for the session 2025-26. Certain seats are reserved for fresh admissions as per the Admission Guidelines for KVS within the approved class strength of 40 students per Sec. i.e. 25% (10 seats) under the Right to Education Act, 2009; 15% (06 seats) for Scheduled Caste; 7.5% (03 seats) for Scheduled Tribe; 27% (11 seats) for OBC and 3% for differently abled applicants, horizontally. As per Sl.No.4 (1) (I) of the Admission Guidelines, out of 40 seats per Sec. in Class-I, 10 seats are to be filled as per Right to Education provisions and the same will be filled by draw of lots from all applications of SC/ST/ EWS/BPL/OBC/differently abled, taken together who are the resident of "neighbourhood". For determining the limits of "neighbourhood", KendriyaVidyalayas categorized the distance from the Vidyalayala to the residence, as per the KVS Admission Guidelines, which is 5 KMs radius, in case of major cities and urban area (all district headquarters and metros) and 8 KMs radius, in case of other places and areas. A child applying in one of the above categories will be automatically considered for admission in RTE category in Vijayawada, to which he applied, as per the KVS Admission Guidelines. Petitioner submitted online application on 19/3/2025 for admission to Class-I to his son during 2025-26 under RTE at PM Shri Kendriya Vidyalaya No.1, Satyanarayanapuram, Vijayawada, as 1st choice, and PM Shri Kendriya Vidyalaya No.2, Wagon Workshop, Guntupalli, Vijayawada, as 2 nd choice, by providing residential address as "H.No.53/4/68, Ground Floor, Opposite Simhachalam Enclave, Christurajupuram, Vijayawada", by declaring the distance from both the Schools to his residence as less than or equal to 5 KMs. Name of the ward of the petitioner did not appear in 1st list in respect of admission to P.M. Shri K.V. No.1, Satyanarayanapuram, Vijayawada, but it was in wait list at sl.No.84. For admission in P.M.K.V.No.1, Wagon Workship, Vijayawada, name of the ward of the petitioner appeared at sl.No.18 in 1st select list of 20 candidates under RTE quota, for which the prescribed distance from the Vidyalaya to residence should be less than or equal to 5 KMs, and his name was at wait list at Sl.No.92 in Scheduled Caste reservation category, for which distance is not a criteria, and in other service category, he stood in wait list at sl.No.152, for which also distance is not a criteria. On verification of documents, it was found that the distance from P.M.Shri K.V. No.2, Wagon Workshop, Vijayawada to residence of petitioner is about 17 KMs. Therefore, the petitioner submitted misleading information in his online application that the distance is less than or equal to 5 KMs. The petitioner's ward does not fulfil the required and prescribed norms of "neighbourhood" in terms of Admission Guidelines for KVS. In view of the same, admission is not provided to the ward of the petitioner. The Writ Petition is devoid of merits, and it is prayed to dismiss the Writ Petition.