India, Oct. 23 -- The Bombay High Court has set aside a state order denying a six-year-old underprivileged child admission to a private school under the Right to Education (RTE) Act quota on account of breaching the eligibility rules regarding the distance between home and school.

In a ruling expected to have a bearing on school admissions under the RTE, a single-judge bench of justice N J Jamadar observed that a "neighbourhood school" described under the Act cannot be construed in a "rigid and pedantic manner".

The court directed Balmohan Vidyamandir (BV) in Dadar to admit the child to Class 1 within a week, saying that a very rigid view on area limits under the RTE would "impinge upon the constitutional right of free and compulsory ed...