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Indian Express- False education dept affidavit in High Court helped Mirambika school: Government

False education dept affidavit in High Court helped Mirambika school: Government

Deputy Chief Minister Sisodia orders withdrawal of affidavit, suspension of officers who filed it.

By: Mallica Joshi | New Delhi | Published:February 7, 2017 5:51 am

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Manish Sisodia has ordered the suspension of senior officials from the Directorate of Education (DOE) for filing a false affidavit in the Delhi High Court and asked that the affidavit be withdrawn. According to an order signed by Sisodia, DOE filed a false affidavit in the Delhi High Court which favoured Mirambika — Free Progress School (MFPS) management. The case dates back to 2015, when a group of parents approached the court after the management of Mirambika — an alternative learning school — shifted students from the building they were studying in to a hostel in Sri Aurobindo Ashram. The management said the move was necessary because the land on which the school building was made was, in fact, leased to the Sri Aurobindo Education Society to start a college. The DOE was asked to inspect the premises where the children were shifted, and was also asked to give its opinion in the case.

In the affidavit, DOE said that at the time of applying for recognition, the school was functioning from the ashram building and that they were satisfied with most of the arrangements in the ashram building. But according to officials at the education department, the affidavit was false.

“The Sri Aurobindo Education Society was granted 9.84 acres of land in 1984,” said a senior government official on condition of anonymity.

“It was primarily to start a college. Within a few months of getting the land, the society told the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) that they did not want to set up a traditional college on the premises and were interested in setting up the Mirambika Research Centre for Integral Education and Human Values. This was supposed to have a research wing, a teachers’ training wing, a nursery section, a library, and an auditorium. The DDA lease was signed after this communication,” said the official.

At the time of finalising the lease deed for the land, DDA was aware that a traditional college would not be built there.

“The Mirambika School was started in 1981 and the management wrote to DOE for recognition in 1988. The application for recognition clearly stated that the building from which the school was operating (the ashram) was temporary and the school will be shifted to a building (under construction at the time) on the 9.84 acres of land given by DDA. The school shifted to the new building on DDA land in December, 1988, and it was granted recognition in January, 1989. When the school applied for extension till Class X in 1991, it was running from the new building,” said the official.

In its affidavit, however, the DOE said, “Mirambika Free Progress School was functioning from the ashram building for which the recognition was granted in 1988. The school was shifted from the ashram to the new building when the society applied for the upgradation of the school upto 10th level which was granted by the Directorate of Education in 1993.”

This information, according to Sisodia and several officials, is untrue. The school management could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

Sisodia, meanwhile, has also asked the directorate to conduct another physical and document inspection of the building and the land where the school is running by Tuesday and file a new affidavit with facts by Wednesday. The next date of hearing in the case is Thursday, February 9.

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Permalink Reply by Sakshi (Moderator) on February 7, 2017 at 3:04pm

Delhi government suspends official for 'fudging facts' about school

Manash Pratim Gohain | TNN | Feb 7, 2017, 08.00 AM IST

File photo.

NEW DELHI: Sending a strong message against collusion of education directorate officials with private schools, the Delhi government on Monday ordered the suspension of a regional director for "deliberate misrepresentation of facts in the affidavit filed in the Delhi high court in the matter of Mirambika Free Progress School".

The government also ordered a vigilance inquiry against officers responsible for filing the affidavit and decided to withdraw the document. It will file a fresh affidavit before the next date of hearing, February 9, 2017.

The government said its directorate of education (DoE) had wrongly stated that recognition to the school was given in 1988, whereas it was actually granted in 1989. The difference is crucial as Mirambika had moved from its location in Aurobindo Ashram to new premises in Ashram, near Lajpat Nagar, in December 1988.

The school shifted back to Aurobindo Ashram in April 2015, a move that led to protests.If DoE recognised the school in 1989, it would mean that the recognition was granted on the basis of the infrastructure at Lajpat Nagar, and not at the present premises.

Pranjal Jauhar, chairperson of Sri Aurobindo Education Society (SAES) that runs the school, said, "I don't think facts were misrepresented.But we will find out the details from DoE tomorrow." According to a senior government official, although two inspections of the school were undertaken by the government, "it was just the infrastructure that was looked into. However, last month after studying the original documents of the land and recognition of SAES, it came to light that there has been a serious misrepresentation of facts at the Delhi high court by DoE via an affidavit filed on June 29, 2016. A case was filed by parents of students after the school was shifted from its building on 9.84 acres, from where it has been functioning since December 1988, to another building in Aurobindo Ashram in April 2015."

The DoE filed its affidavit on June 29, 2016. According to the order signed by deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, after "carefully perusing the files related to this case it seems apparent that the inspection report and the affidavit filed by the DoE in the court are a deliberate misrepresentation of facts.It is, therefore, necessary to take strong action on this count".

Apart from physical inspection and document inspection, the minister ordered withdrawing of the affidavit and filing a new one by February 8. Sisodia also ordered immediate action on the complaints by parents "if they are found true."

DoE's affidavit had stated that "the school got its recognition in the year 1988, when it was functioning from the present premises", whereas Mirambika was granted recognition by DoE in January 1989 after it had shifted to its new building in 1988. The affidavit also mentioned that the school was functioning from the Aurobindo Ashram building for which the recognition was granted in 1998 and that the school was shifted to the new building on 9.84 acres when the society applied for upgradation of the school to Class X, which was granted in 1993.

However DoE's own inspection report of 1988 stated that the school was running from its own building and that it had a lease deed of the land allotted by DDA. An earlier (August 1988) inspection's checklist by the directorate also stated that the "school is currently running in Aurobindo Ashram but is likely to be shifted to its own building by October 1988" and that "the society does not require funds to purchase land for the school as it already has land from DDA."