The Delhi High Court made it clear that the child’s education and welfare must come first, even if the parents are separated or are fighting over custody.
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court ruled that schools cannot refuse to give a Transfer Certificate (TC) to a student just because the parents are having a matrimonial dispute. The Court made it clear that the child’s education and welfare must come first, even if the parents are separated or are fighting over custody.
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The ruling came from a Bench led by Justice Vikas Mahajan, who strongly said that school authorities must follow the law when it comes to issuing TCs.
Quoting the law, the Court stated:
“A perusal of the above quoted provision clearly shows that the same mandates that the school cannot deny the issuance of Transfer Certificate (TC) to the child who has sought admission in other school. In the event of delay in issuance of Transfer Certificate, even a disciplinary action can be taken against the Head-Master or In-Charge of the school.”
This means that if a school delays issuing the TC, the school principal or head can even face disciplinary action.
The Court also said that in any matrimonial or custody case, the well-being of the child is the top priority.
In this case, the Court was hearing a petition filed by a minor girl, who had been studying at Montfort School in Delhi. After her parents separated, she moved to Gurugram with her mother and joined a new school there. She was allowed to attend classes and was provisionally promoted to the next grade, but the new school needed her TC from Montfort School.
However, Montfort School refused to issue the Transfer Certificate. The school reportedly denied the certificate because the girl’s father wrote a letter objecting to it.
The mother of the child told the Court that although a guardianship case is going on in family court, there was no order stopping the school from issuing the TC.
After hearing both sides, the Delhi High Court ordered Montfort School to give the Transfer Certificate to the girl within one week.
The Court also added:
“In the event of delay in issuance of Transfer Certificate, even a disciplinary action can be taken against the Head-Master or In-Charge of the school.”
Further, the Bench clarified that if the school is not satisfied with the Court’s order, it is free to approach the Court again and file a plea to reopen the case.
Quoting the Court:
“The school cannot deny the issuance of Transfer Certificate (TC) to the child who has sought admission in other school.”
The girl was represented by Advocates Puneet Singh Bindra, Vivek Kadyan, Nitin Saroha, Charu Modi, Sukriti Seth, Rishabh Gupta, Kriti Dang and Shanya Shukla.
The school (respondent) was represented by Advocates Dhruv Rohatgi, Chandrika Sachdev, Dhruv Kumar, RD Singh and Prateek Jindal.
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