BHANSALI,J. - (1.) THIS petition, styled as a Public Interest Litigation, has been filed by the petitioners seeking to question the order dated 09.11.2012 passed by the Dy. Secretary, Elementary Education, Education Department, Government of Rajasthan, whereby, permission was granted for merging the Schools indicated in form 2 enclosed with the said letter. It is contended in the petition that Government Upper Primary School No.12, Jawahar Nagar, Sri Ganganagar ('School No.12') is located near Scheduled Caste Hostel and is providing education to needy and underprivileged section of the society and there is no other Government School within a radius of 2.5 kilometers. The State Government vide its order dated 09.11.2012 granted permission for merger of the said School No.12 with Upper Primary School, Naya Chak, Sri Ganganagar ('Naya Chak School'). The said order came to the knowledge of the petitioners on 30.04.2013 when, in pursuance of the said order dated 09.11.2012, the District Education Officer, Primary Education, Sri Ganganagar communicated the sanction vide his letter dated 29.04.2013. It is claimed that the permission has been granted on wrong footing because neither there is any other Government School in the vicinity of radius upto 2.5 kilometers and, in no case, the School can be merged with a distantly placed School at Naya Chak, Sri Ganganagar. A representation was made by the residents of the locality on 01.05.2013 and a telegraphic notice dated 01.05.2013 was also issued by the counsel, which remain unanswered.
(2.) BASED on the above facts, it is prayed that the order dated 09.11.2012 be set aside. A reply to the writ petition has been filed by the State, whereby, it has been indicated that the order impugned has been passed considering the larger object of imparting education and, by passing of the said order, none of petitioners' rights can be said to be infringed. It has been further submitted that vide the impugned order various Schools have been ordered to be merged looking to the object sought to be achieved i.e. the betterment of the education and looking to the fact that one or more Schools were functioning in the nearby area. It has been admitted that the School, in which, the School No.12 is sought to be merged is at a distance of 2.5 kilometers and it has been reiterated that the Schools have been decided to be shifted/merged having regard to the required parameters and objects. Rest of the allegations made in the petition have been denied. It is submitted by learned counsel for the petitioners that in terms of Rule 7 of the Rajasthan Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2011 ('Rules of 2011'), a school, in respect of children in classes from I to V, is required to be within a walking distance of one kilometer and, therefore, the decision to merge the School No.12 with Naya Chak School is contrary to the said Rule and the order impugned consequently, deserves to be set aside; from Annexure-8, it is apparent that as on 30.09.2012, 127 students were studying at the said school, which included 66 boys and 37 girls belonging to Scheduled Caste and from the said annexure it is apparent that within 2 to 2.5 kilometers radius there is no Government Primary/Upper Primary/Secondary School and, as such, the decision to merge the two Schools is ex facie incorrect; and that the representations made by the residents of the colony and the telegraphic notice sent by the counsel have remained unanswered.
(3.) IN reply to the submissions made above, it is submitted by learned Addl. Advocate General that merger of the Schools based on the parameters and the objects sought to be achieved i.e. the betterment of the education being an executive decision based on the circumstances available, is not open to question by the petitioners. It is further submitted that the reliance placed on the provisions of the Rules of 2011 is misplaced as the said provision is meant for establishment of Schools by the State Government and the same is not applicable to merger of Schools. It was prayed that no public interest is involved in the matter and the writ petition deserves to be dismissed.;