A division bench, comprising acting Chief Justice Devinder Gupta and Justice K.S. Gupta, directed the government, the directorate of education and the Prabhu Dayal Public School to reply to the notices by July 7, the next date of hearing. The court, however, refused to issue notice to the fourth respondent the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

The public interest petition was filed by the Prabhu Dayal School Students Parents Association through its counsel Ashok Aggarwal.

It urged the court to direct respondents to examine the accounts and other records of the schools. They said they were only exercising their constitutional and statutory duties as provided for under Section 18 (5) of the Delhi School Education (DSE) Act, 1973, read with rules 170 and 180 of the DSE rules and Article 149 of the Constitution.

It also said the government should inspect the Prabhu Dayal Public School under Section 24, of the DSE Act and take appropriate remedial steps to rectify defects which may have been noticed.

Aggarwal said in the petition that under the section, an inspection of every school once every year is required, but till now no inspection has been carried out in any of the schools by the Directorate of Education. The section also says that the Director of Education may also arrange a special inspection of any school.

If the manager fails to comply with any direction given under Sub-Section three, the director may consider the explanation or report, if any, then take action, including stopping of aid, withdrawal of recognition and taking over of the school under Section 20, except in the case of a minority school.

``It deserves to be noticed that the Director of Education and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has to be ever vigilant so that any act which might turn out to be act of commercialisation or exploitation may at once be checked and requisite remedial action taken,'' the court had observed.