Gave 20 per cent grant-in-aid to unaided schools: State to Bombay HC

Mumbai: The state government has informed the Bombay high court that it has already provided grant-in-aid of up to 20 per cent as per government policy to 1,682 permanently unaided schools found eligible for receiving the aid. The state reiterated that it had given uniform aid to all schools, and had not given 100 per cent aid to any of the said schools.

A division bench of Justice Ranjit More and Justice Anuja Prabhudesai was hearing a civil application filed by the state government in a writ petition, seeking clarification of statements made by the education officer regarding disbursement of grant-in-aid to permanently unaided schools in the state.

The education officer mentioned that the state had disbursed 100 per cent grant-in-aid to schools, whereas according to the policy, the state has to disburse aid in a phased manner and release 20 per cent in each phase. The government pleader, A.I. Patel, said that as per the policy, the government had disbursed 20 per cent grant-in-aid to all schools, regardless of which phase they were in and the statement made by the education officer was misconstrued. The court accepted the submissions and allowed the civil application.