Pradeep Nandrajog, J.:-

1. The issue at hand is whether the Union Government can provide land free of cost to a Society formed with the object of providing school education, with 60% seats reserved for children of Group-A officers of the Union Government; finance the construction of a school building thereon and provide the required infrastructure to run the school. The school charging nearly 40% less fee from the children of Group-A officers of the Union Government vis-a-vis other children. This larger issue subsumes the sub-issue whether such a school can reserve a quota of 60% for the children of Group-A officers of the Union Government.

2. As is known to one and all, Group-A officers of the Union Government are the members of the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Revenue Service, Indian Police Service etc.

3. On the 7th Day of February, 1995, the wives of the then Cabinet Secretary, Secretary Ministry of External Affairs, Secretary Ministry of Commerce and ten other ladies, all of whom were the spouse of members of the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Revenue Service, Indian Police Service and Indian Railway Technical Service, formed a Society named ‘THE CIVIL SERVICES SOCIETY; having principal object to establish progressive schools in or outside Delhi open to children of officers of the All India and Central Services, with a clarification that if extra seats were available, children of officers of Public Sector and Non-Government Servants may also be admitted in the school(s).

4. The spouses of the ladies worked over time. The Cabinet Secretary, the Foreign Secretary, the Defence Secretary, the Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, the Secretary of Department of Urban Development, the Advisor (staff) Railway Board and nine other senior officers of the Union Government met on June 21, 1995, and on behalf of the Union of India took the decision that the Ministry of Urban Development shall allot 7.78 acres land in Chankyapuri to the Civil Services Society at a token cost of Rs. 1 with annual premium of Rs. 1. In principal decision was taken that through its various ministries, such as Defence, Railway and DoPT, the requisite fund would be made available to the Society to not only construct the school building but even purchase furniture and other equipment required. A commitment was made to make available Rs. 19 crores to the Society, and relevant would it be to note that nearly Rs. 10 crores was to remain as a corps fund. The affidavit filed on August 26, 2006 by Mr. R. Prem Anand, Under Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Finance informs the Court that various Government agencies and/or Ministries donated Rs. 15.945 crores to the Society for setting up of the school.

5. The rationale for setting up the school, which has been named ‘SANSKRITI SCHOOL’, as disclosed in the affidavits filed by the Union of India and the Principal of the school is that Civil Services Officers, having transferrable jobs, find it difficult to admit their children in ‘Good Schools’ ‘Elite Schools´. The two expressions in italics and bold have been lifted by us from the two counter affidavits filed. One by the Principal of the School and the other on behalf of the Union of India. An additional affidavit filed on December 03, 2013 on behalf of Sanskriti School informs the Court that 60% seats in the school are reserved for children of Central Government Group-A officer (through Civil Services Examination). 25% seats are reserved for children from the economically weaker sections of the society as per guidelines issued by the Government of Delhi. Only 10% seats are available to the children of the rest of the society and 5% seats are reserved for the staff of the school. As per the affidavit, differential fee is paid by children of Central Government Group-A officers and the rest. The annual fee for the former for the year 2013-14 is Rs. 72,443/- and the later Rs. 1,12,960/-

6. On the status of the society which has esta