The Delhi High Court today sought the response of the Centre on a PIL alleging that girls were not being admitted in the Sainik Schools and Rashtriya Military Schools run by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar issued notice to the ministry and sought its stand on the allegation that there was "institutionalised discrimination" in the admission process to these schools as only boys were admitted.
Central government standing counsel Sanjeev Narula, during the hearing, told the bench that girls would soon be given admission in the National Defence Academy and the Sainik Schools.
The court, however, asked the government to indicate the present situation on affidavit and listed the matter for further hearing on April 16.
The petition by a lawyer, Kush Kalra, has contended that the extant practice in the schools run by the MoD was in violation of not only constitutional norms but also "creates a situation of a girl child of a solider/defence personnel being deprived of quality education".
The plea, filed through advocate Charu Wali Khanna, also claimed that such practice created "gender-based regional imbalances".
It also said that by not admitting girls, the schools were violating their own vision statement to provide education to children of the common man.
The petitioner has sought a direction to the MoD to make a provision for admission of girls in Sainik Schools and Rashtriya Military Schools run by it.
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