The Delhi High Court on Monday directed the city government to frame rules—preferably within three months—for strengthening the Delhi School Tribunal and enabling effective execution of its orders, observing that the continued absence of an enforcement mechanism was legally untenable.
A division bench of Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya and Justice Tejasvi Karia said that despite a clear recommendation by a full bench of the High Court in 2010 to frame rules for implementation of tribunal decisions, no action had been taken by the authorities in the past 14 years.
“Such a situation cannot be permitted to go on,” the court said, adding, “You have to strengthen the tribunal. What is the difficulty in empowering the tribunal?”
The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by the NGO Justice for All, which pointed out that employees of private unaided schools who receive relief from the Delhi School Tribunal are unable to enforce these orders because the law does not currently provide a mechanism for execution.
“We hope and expect that the need for having an execution mechanism shall be considered by the appropriate authorities and adequate steps shall be taken to provide for such a mechanism,” the bench said.
It directed the office of the Lieutenant Governor or the Delhi Administrator to examine the issue and take appropriate steps, either by framing rules or by evolving another legally permissible mechanism. The court also said that if the Delhi government sends any proposal on this issue to the Centre, it should be “immediately” considered.
Disposing of the PIL, the bench said:
“We dispose of the petition with a direction to the LG or administrator to consider the issue raised in the petition and take appropriate steps to address the same by framing appropriate rules or evolving any other legally permissible mechanism.”
Rejecting the argument by the Delhi government that the petition was an abuse of process, the High Court underlined that the problem was not speculative. It said the lack of statutory power meant that tribunal orders, however valid, remained unenforceable by the tribunal itself.
“A tribunal has to function within the four corners of the statute under which it is established, and unless the statute provides for execution, the same cannot be permitted simply as a matter of practice,” the bench observed.
Referring to the 2010 judgment, the court remarked that it was unfortunate that even after nearly a decade and a half, no rules had been framed and no alternative enforcement mechanism had been created.
“Such a situation warrants immediate attention of the authorities,” the court stressed.
The Delhi School Tribunal hears service-related disputes of employees of private unaided schools under the Delhi School Education Act, 1973. However, unlike civil courts, the tribunal lacks the power to enforce its own orders unless a separate execution mechanism is created by the government.
The 2010 full bench judgment had already flagged this deficiency and suggested rule-making to address it. Monday’s order revives that recommendation, this time with a time-bound directive.
