Allahabad High Court Orders Status Quo On UP Govt's School Pairing Exercise In Sitapur Till August 21

A bench of Chief Justice Arun Bhansali and Justice Jaspreet Singh passed the order while dealing with an filed against the July 7, 2025, order of a Single Judge, who had dismissed writ petitions challenging the validity of the pairing of schools in Sitapur.

The appellants had argued that the paired schools violate the norm of having a school in the neighbourhood under the provisions of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, and in violation of Article 21-A of the Constitution of India.

The division bench noted that no counter affidavit had been filed before the Single Judge, and the Additional Advocate General had placed certain minutes and material with regard to the stand taken by the respondents.

However, when those documents were referred to before the Division Bench, the Court noticed 'certain discrepancies' and pointed them out to the Additional Advocate General. In response to this, the State filed an affidavit along with a set of documents purportedly shown to the Single Judge, explaining the discrepancies.

The Bench took the affidavit on record and granted time to the appellants to file a response to the same. The appeals are now listed for hearing as fresh on August 21, 2025.

“In the meanwhile and till the next date, only in respect of District Sitapur, on account of the fact that certain glaring discrepancies have been noticed by the Court which are sought to be explained by the respondents, status quo as it exists today, qua the implementation of the exercise undertaken by the respondents for pairing of schools shall be maintained,” the Court directed.

The court, however, clarified that the grant of the interim order has nothing to do with the merit of the policy and its implementation as such.

Appearances

Counsel for Appellant: Gaurav Mehrotra, Utsav Mishra, Manjari, Senior Advocate Lalta Prasad Misra, Prafulla Tiwari

Counsel for Respondent: C.S.C., Anuj Kudesia (A.A.G.), Shailendra Kumar Singh (C.S.C.), Ranvijay Singh (A.C.S.C.), Rishabh Tripathi, Arun Kumar Singh