Court’s relief prompts extension of RTE admission deadline date

Nagpur: The Nagpur bench of Bombay high court on Tuesday granted temporary relief to parents seeking admissions under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, directing the Maharashtra govt to provide additional time for submitting applications. Acting on the court's order, the state school education dept later extended the deadline to March 18.A division bench comprising Justices Anil Kilor and Raj Wakode passed the interim directive while hearing a writ petition filed by Shankar Atram and Karishma Bangde regarding the admission process for the 2026-27 academic year under the 25% reservation quota mandated by the RTE Act.During the hearing, the bench referred to its earlier order dated March 9 in a PIL filed by social activists Ashish Fulzele, Aniket Kuttarmare and Vaibhav Kamble from Nagpur, who contended that the new rule imposed "unjust restrictions on children's rights" and undermined the objective of the RTE Act. The HC had stayed a govt decision issued on February 12, which restricted applicants to selecting only 10 schools and imposed a one km distance limit. The high court had observed that the restrictions were prima facie inconsistent with the provisions of RTE Act and Articles 14, 21 and 21-A of the Constitution.The bench permitted the petitioner to apply to schools located within a three km radius of his residence and directed the state govt and relevant authorities to modify the online admission system accordingly. Officials were instructed to ensure that the application process complied with the court's directions.The last date for submitting applications was March 10. However, many parents were unable to complete the process after the online system was modified following the court's earlier order. Taking note of the difficulties faced by applicants, the court directed the state govt to extend the deadline by three days so that students had sufficient time to submit their applications. The govt pleader informed the court that the order would be immediately communicated to concerned officials.Later in the day, the school education dept issued a notification extending the deadline by eight days, allowing parents to submit applications until March 18. According to official data, by Tuesday evening a total of 17,319 online applications were received for 7,081 seats available under RTE quota in Nagpur district.