Kejriwal govt can't force Delhi schools to provide their buses: HC

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued a notice to state government seeking response to a petition filed by Delhi education department.

The petition has challenged the manner in which Delhi government has roped in city school buses to be operated as a public transport during the 15-day trial period of odd-even scheme.

All Delhi schools have been ordered to remain closed during the trial from January 1-15 so that their buses can be pressed into action. At least 400 private schools have challenged this decision in the High Court, which said that no school can be forced to provide its buses for the operation.

Responding to the petition filed by 400 schools, High Court has directed Delhi government to respond to the notice within 10 days. The next hearing in the case has been scheduled for January 14.

The court has also sought a list of 400 Delhi schools who are against the idea of providing their buses to be used for the experiment.

According to the Delhi government, out of 2,700 school buses, at least 1,700 buses have given their consent to be used for the campaign. That means, the government will be short of 1,000 buses which were supposed to have come from Delhi private school owners.