In a judgment bearing considerable implications for the implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act), the Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu government to ensure timely reimbursement to private unaided schools admitting children under Section 12(1)(c) of the RTE Act. The Court has further called upon the Union Government to consider disbursing the RTE-related funds independently, without tethering them to compliance with the National Education Policy, 2020 (NEP 2020).
A Division Bench comprising Justice G.R. Swaminathan and Justice V. Lakshminarayanan issued the directions while disposing of a Public Interest Litigation filed by V. Eswaran, which sought the timely initiation of the admission process for the 2024–25 academic year under the RTE quota.
The State had submitted, through Additional Advocate General J. Ravindran, that it had borne the entire RTE reimbursement liability amounting to ₹188.99 crore for the 2022–23 financial year due to non-release of Central funds. The State sought the Centre’s contribution of ₹2,151.59 crore, constituting 60% of the total allocation under the Samagra Shiksha Scheme for 2024–25, as approved by the Project Approval Board.
In response, Additional Solicitor General A.R.L. Sundaresan argued that the Samagra Shiksha Scheme is an integrated initiative aligned with NEP 2020, covering the educational continuum from preschool to senior secondary level. The Centre contended that Tamil Nadu’s non-adoption of NEP 2020 posed challenges to the disbursal of funds under the Scheme.
The Bench observed, “Therefore, the State Government is directed to make reimbursements by adhering to the timeline laid down in the statute. The quantum of reimbursement cannot be arbitrary. It has to be as per Section 12(2) of the Act r/w. Rule 9 of the Tamil Nadu Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2011. The State Government has a non-derogable obligation to reimburse private unaided schools. Non-receipt of funds from the Union Government cannot be cited as a reason to wriggle out of this statutory obligation.”
Observing that the right to education under the RTE Act exists independently of the Samagra Shiksha Scheme and NEP 2020, the Bench held that financial responsibilities under the RTE Act are shared concurrently by the Centre and the States under Section 7 of the RTE Act. The Court noted that Section 7(3) of the RTE Act specifically empowers the Centre to determine and release its share as grant-in-aid to the States in consultation with them.
While refraining from issuing a binding direction to the Centre due to a pending suit before the Supreme Court filed by the Tamil Nadu government, the Bench nevertheless recommended administrative separation of RTE funds from the larger Samagra Shiksha allocation. “The RTE component must be less than ₹200 crores. There cannot be any difficulty in releasing the Central Government's share under this head,” the Court noted, urging the Centre to consider delinking the RTE obligation from the broader SSS package to ensure uninterrupted implementation of the Act’s mandates.
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