NEW DELHI, Aug 7: The Supreme Court on Friday declined to entertain a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking directions to the Centre and State Governments to introduce a mandatory biometric attendance system for school students to curb the functioning of dummy educational institutions.
A bench comprising Justices P. Narasimha and Alok Aradhe dismissed the petition filed under Article 32 of the Constitution, while granting the petitioner liberty to approach the concerned High Court.
“We are giving you liberty to approach the High Court,” the bench observed, making it clear that it was not inclined to entertain the plea directly.
The petition was filed by advocate N.K. Goswami, who also sought a statutory cap on coaching hours for school students and a binding code of conduct for coaching centres.
The plea proposed measures to prevent coaching institutes from manipulating success data, using photographs of toppers for misleading advertisements and engaging in other unfair promotional practices.
Article 32 of the Constitution empowers citizens to directly approach the Supreme Court for the enforcement of their fundamental rights. However, the apex court chose not to examine the petition and advised the petitioner to seek appropriate relief before the High Court.
