On Monday, the Supreme Court declined to entertain a petition filed by Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh questioning the legality of the Uttar Pradesh Government’s decision to close 105 government-run primary schools, leaving the petitioner to pursue remedies before the Allahabad High Court, where similar proceedings are already underway.
A Bench comprising Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice A.G. Masih dismissed the writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution as withdrawn after noting that the matter was already sub judice before the High Court.
The controversy stems from orders issued by the State Government directing the closure of 105 schools. The decision, according to the Government, followed an internal assessment showing negligible or zero enrolments in these institutions. To address the situation, the administration announced a pairing exercise, merging the affected schools with proximate institutions in the name of rationalising resources and aligning with the objectives of the National Education Policy, 2020 (NEP 2020).
Sanjay Singh contended that the closure order constituted an arbitrary and unconstitutional deprivation of children’s right to education, particularly harming those from the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, minority groups, and girls between the ages of 6 and 11.
The petition drew attention to Article 21A of the Constitution and the statutory rights flowing from the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act). Specifically, it invoked Rule 4(1)(a) of the RTE Rules, which obliges the State to ensure a primary school within a one-kilometre radius of every habitation with at least 300 residents. Singh argued that by merging or closing neighbourhood schools without creating adequate alternatives, the State effectively undermined the statutory scheme.
The petition further alleged that the action was taken without consulting School Management Committees, a safeguard expressly provided under the RTE Act, thereby rendering the decision ultra vires. It was submitted that the closures had forced several families to withdraw children from school altogether due to safety concerns and distance, in some cases pushing them into child labour or domestic work. Represented by Advocate-on-Record Ankit Geol, the Uttar Pradesh Government defended its policy as a rational restructuring exercise consistent with NEP 2020. The State maintained that operating institutions with no functional student population was unsustainable, and that merging such schools into better-staffed and better-equipped institutions served educational efficiency.
The Bench declined to enter into the merits of the constitutional challenge, observing that the matter was already pending before the Allahabad High Court. Accordingly, the writ petition was permitted to be withdrawn.
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