New Delhi, November 28
The Delhi High Court today ruled that children should have the option to go to a neighbourhood school, but their choice cannot be restricted to a school situated in their locality.

"The Right to Education Act 2009 prescribes a duty upon the State to ensure availability of neighbourhood schools. It nowhere stipulates that children would have to take admission only in a neighbourhood school or that children cannot take admission in schools situated beyond their neighbourhood," Justice Manmohan noted.

The HC made the clarification while quashing the point system of the Delhi administration for nursery admissions. Under this system, schools were giving 70 points (on a scale of 100) for kids living in the neighbourhood and 20 points for those whose siblings were already studying there. Children whose parents were alumni got 5 points while kids of parents on transfer also got 5 points.

The system had been challenged by the Action Committee of Unaided Recognised Private Schools and a forum for promotion of education for all.

"The power to choose a school has to primarily vest with the parents and not the administration.... School choice gives families freedom to choose any school that meets their needs regardless of the location. This court is of the opinion that by increasing parental choice and by granting schools the autonomy to admit students, the accountability of private schools can be ensured," the HC said.

Restrictions could be imposed only by enacting laws, not by way of office orders, the HC explained. Further, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court had ruled that the fundamental right to practise any profession under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution covered the right to establish and administer private educational educations, it said.

New Delhi, November 28
A day after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi came to the rescue of those affected in Rangpuri demolitions, Lieutenant Governor (LG) Najeeb Jung today extended full support to them and assured them of providing immediate relief.

"Tents were being erected on site to provide shelter. Directions have been issued to the officials that the elderly, women and children be provided shelter first," said an official of Raj Niwas. So far, 70 families have been provided tents.

Informing the measure being taken for helping the people, the official said on-site toilet facilities were being operationalized. Three mobile toilets are in place.

The LG directed that the Deputy Commissioner be present on site along with his team till all the arrangements are put in place.

He directed the Chief Secretary and the Divisional Commissioner to monitor the operations and ensure that all arrangements are in place.

New Delhi, November 28
A 22-year-old woman has alleged that she was raped by a man who is reportedly working with the Sub-Divisional Magistrate's office in Kanjhawala, outer Delhi.

The accused, Arvind, has been arrested, the police said today. The victim, a resident of Rani Bagh, north Delhi, said she had met the accused while looking for a loan on a government scheme. She had contacted Arvind, a resident of Uttam Nagar, through a common friend.

New Delhi, November 28
Delhi University Vice-Chancellor Prof Dinesh Singh today constituted a three-member committee to probe the goof in which the financial management paper (CH5.2) for the fifth semester B Com students was found to be a 'ditto' copy of the paper given to students of the DU's School of Open Learning (SOL) in their exam in May.

Close on the heels of the scrapping of the four-year undergraduate programme, the shocking revelation comes as an embarrassment for the administration while raising doubts about the credibility of the DU's examination system.

The committee, which will be headed by Prof RC Kuhad of the Department of Microbiology, is supposed to submit its report within two weeks.

Both the Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) and the Delhi University Students' Union have hit out at the varsity administration for the fiasco with the teachers' body demanding an independent enquiry into the matter while holding the semester system responsible for it.

Calling for a review of the semester system, DUTA pointed out that the instance has made it clear that the Examination Branch has not been able to handle the burden of coordinating and conduct of examinations, twice in a year for over 1.5 lakhs regular students and over 4.5 lakhs students of SOL.

DUTA president Nandita Narain said there have been repeated failures on the part of the administration in the smooth conduct of examinations and its role calls for investigation.

"The problem lies in the semester system which was implemented forcibly in all undergraduate courses in 2010-11. It not only resulted with a logistics nightmare for the university but has also , severely compromised the teaching-learning process," she said while noting that it semester system has also led to several other problems, including the threatened derecognition of the SOL degree, inordinate delay in declaration of results and withdrawal of supplementary exams.

New Delhi, November 28
Delhi government has postponed its Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate plan as it is unprepared to manage the long queues at petrol pumps which will follow the announcement of the order.

The government has deferred the proposal for three months. The plan was to make the PUC certificate mandatory for filling petrol and diesel for vehicles in Delhi from December 1.

"The proposal is part of the recommendations of the High Power Committee which had been constituted by the Lt. Governor under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary, Delhi, to look into the pollution levels in the city, including impact related to the number of vehicles on the road," said a senior government official.

For effective implementation of the proposal, the Department of Transport, Delhi Traffic Police, Food and Civil Supplies department of Delhi government and other agencies will work in coordinated manner for strengthening of infrastructure and other measures required for smooth implementation.