CBSE/CISCE Affiliation No Exemption From RTE Act Duties for UP Private Schools — Allahabad HC

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Overview

In an interim order passed in a pending writ petition, the Allahabad High Court has observed that a private school’s affiliation to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) or the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) does not exempt it from the admission and fee-waiver obligations that Uttar Pradesh imposes on private schools under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act). While granting a short adjournment in a petition filed by St. John S School, Babhanauti, Pachwal, Justice Vinod Diwakar directed the State Government to place on record a district-wise, five-year data return on RTE admissions, denials and capitation-fee complaints across all private schools in the State — irrespective of board affiliation.

Case: St. John S School, Babhanauti, Pachwal v. State of U.P. and 2 Others
Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (AB) 625 — Writ-C No. 26785 of 2026 (the order does not carry a separate neutral citation)
Bench: Justice Vinod Diwakar
Date: 25 August 2026 (interim order; matter next listed for 15 September 2026)

Facts

The petition, Writ-C No. 26785 of 2026, came up before Justice Vinod Diwakar on 25 August 2026 on a short adjournment sought by counsel for the petitioner school on the ground of personal difficulty. While allowing the adjournment, the Court recorded that, from the submissions of counsel for the petitioner and the Additional Advocate General for the State “as noted in the previous orders,” a larger issue had emerged “concerning the opportunities available for the education of children belonging to economically weaker sections and socially disadvantaged groups.”

The Court identified this larger issue as concerning enforcement of the right of every child to free and compulsory elementary education in an unaided private school that receives no aid or grant from the appropriate Government or a local authority — specifically, the obligation to admit in Class I, from the neighbourhood, children belonging to weaker sections and disadvantaged groups (including a child with disability, severe disability or multiple disability), and to provide them free and compulsory elementary education until it is complete.

The Court also recorded that it had been brought to its notice that “certain private educational institutions recognised by the State Government, run and established within its territorial jurisdiction, are reluctant to admit children, and to forgo the fees and other charges ordinarily levied by them.” It expressly clarified that “the correctness of the allegation is a matter upon which no opinion is expressed at this stage,” and that the affidavit it was calling for would allow the position to be ascertained. The underlying petition, and the allegation against private schools generally, therefore remain pending before the Court; this article expresses no view on that allegation or on the merits of the writ petition.

What the Court Observed and Directed

1. Board affiliation does not exempt a school from State-imposed RTE obligations. Noting that schools affiliated to the CBSE, the CISCE or any other Board require a prior No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the State Government — a requirement the Court traced to the CBSE Affiliation Bye-Laws, 2018 for schools set up by registered societies or by Section 8 companies under the Companies Act, 2013 — the Court observed: “It follows that a school affiliated to the CBSE or the CISCE and imparting elementary education within the State is subject to the obligations imposed by the State Government in the same measure as any other school, and its affiliation to a Board other than the State Board affords it no exemption therefrom.”

2. The State-law recognition framework applies regardless of board. The Court set out how private primary schools are recognised in Uttar Pradesh: under the Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Act, 1972, “basic education” covers education up to Class 8 in schools other than High Schools or Intermediate Colleges, with a “Junior Basic School” (education up to Class 5) and “Junior High School” (Classes 6 to 8) recognised by the Uttar Pradesh Board of Basic Education, and rules for recognised basic schools framed under the Act. A school’s affiliation to a national board sits on top of, and does not displace, this State recognition framework.

3. A district-wise affidavit on every private school in the State. The State was directed to file a comprehensive affidavit setting out, district-wise: (i) a list of all private primary schools — aided and unaided, irrespective of board affiliation — collated through the Basic Shiksha Adhikari for basic schools and the District Inspector of Schools for High Schools and Intermediate Colleges; and (ii) the number of students enrolled in each such school, shown separately for the Junior Basic, Junior High, High School and Intermediate stages.

4. Five years of school-wise admission, denial and complaint data. For each of the last five academic sessions, the State must additionally furnish, school-wise, for all private schools regardless of board affiliation: the number of children actually admitted; the number of RTE-allotted children whose admission was declined or not effected, with reasons recorded, if any; and the number of complaints alleging capitation fee or a screening procedure contrary to State policy, with the action taken.

5. No opinion on the conduct of any school; a due-process safeguard. The Court clarified “that the information is called for to enable this Court to obtain a complete picture, that no opinion has been expressed upon the conduct of any school, and that nothing herein shall be acted upon to the prejudice of any institution save after notice and in accordance with law.” The data-collection exercise is thus investigative at this stage, not a finding against any named school.

6. Compliance directions and next listing. The Registrar (Compliance) was directed to transmit the order to the Principal Secretary, Basic Education, and to the Directors of Education (Basic and Secondary), Uttar Pradesh; a copy was also directed to be sent to the CBSE’s regional office at Prayagraj and to the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations for reference and compliance. The matter was listed as fresh for 15 September 2026.

Precedents Relied On

The order does not cite any reported judicial precedent. Its reasoning rests on statute and subordinate regulation: the RTE Act, 2009 — the duty it describes tracks Section 12(1)(c), which requires unaided private schools (outside the minority-institution category) to admit children from weaker sections and disadvantaged groups, as defined in Section 2(d), (e) and (ee) of the Act, to the extent of at least 25% of Class I strength, and educate them free until elementary schooling is complete, though the order does not cite the provision by number; the constitutional foundation for that duty in Article 21A of the Constitution of India; the Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Act, 1972, for the State’s school-recognition framework; and the CBSE Affiliation Bye-Laws, 2018, for the State No Objection Certificate that precedes CBSE affiliation. These are set out here as the statutory backdrop the Court drew on, not as precedents the Court itself invoked.

Takeaway

This is an interim order in a pending writ petition, not a final adjudication — the petition itself, and the allegation that some recognised private schools are reluctant to admit RTE-allotted children, remain to be examined once the State’s affidavit is filed and the matter is taken up again on 15 September 2026. Within that limited scope, though, the Court’s statement on the exemption question is a clear one for Uttar Pradesh’s private-school sector: affiliation to the CBSE, the CISCE or any board other than the State board does not, by itself, take a school outside the admission and fee-waiver duties that apply to every other recognised private school in the State. The accompanying direction — five years of school-wise admission, denial and complaint data covering every private school irrespective of board — also points toward a more systemic, data-driven approach to monitoring RTE compliance in the State, rather than adjudication confined to individual admission disputes.

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