$~96 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI + W.P.(C) 2121/2026 & CM.APPL. 10319/2026, CM.APPL.

10320/2026, THE KLNOWLEDGE BUS GLOBAL SCHOOL, MOHALI & ANR.

.....Petitioners Through: Mr. Debal Banerjee, Sr. Adv. with Mr.

Manish Gupta, Ms. Manaswee Gupta, Mr. Yash Tewari, Advs.

versus CENTRAL BOARD OF SECONDARY EDUCATION , THROUGH ITS SECRETARY .....Respondent Through: Mr. S.K.Chaturvedi, Ms. Ankita Agrawal, Advs.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JASMEET SINGH

O R D E R

% 13.02.2026

1. This is writ petition filed under Article 226 read with Article 227 of the Constitution of India seeking the following reliefs:

“a. Issue an appropriate writ or direction to set aside the impugned Order dated 20.09.2025 and Order dated

02.01.2026 issued by the Respondent CBSE and;

b. Issue a Writ of Mandamus against the Respondent to restore the affiliation of the Petitioner School and;

c. Issue appropriate directions/Orders to the Respondent CBSE to restore the affiliation of the school on the CBSE Portal and;

d. Issue direction against the Respondent to activate/allow the usage of CBSE portal for registration of students and in particular for Class IX and Class XI students for the next Board Examinations and/or;...”

2. The brief facts of the case are that the petitioner No. 1 is a school, namely The Knowledge Bus Global School, Mohali being maintained by the petitioner No. 2 Trust, namely Saakaar Educational Trust. The provisional affiliation was granted by the respondent to the petitioner school on 29.09.2018 for a period commencing from 01.04.2018 to 31.03.2021 for secondary level and subsequently vide the affiliation letter dated 21.10.2020, the affiliation of the school was upgraded to senior secondary for a period commencing from 01.04.2020 to 31.03.2023. further, the affiliation of the petitioner school was again extended from 01.04.2023 to 31.03.2028 vide letter dated 29.09.2018

3. On 13.09.2024, Punjab Wakf Board addressed a communication to the petitioner seeking arrears of rent from the previous lessee, cancelled the lease for non-payment of rent by the previous lessee. A request was made to the respondent by the said Wakf Board to cancel the affiliation of the petitioner School. Consequently, the respondent cancelled the affiliation of the petitioner school on 20.09.2025 squarely relying on the letter dated 13.09.2024.

4. The Petitioner School then approached the Punjab Wakf Board and obtained a lease in favour of the School on 30.09.2025 for a period of 33 months and submitted a copy of the said lease to the office of the respondent with a request dated 11.10.2025 along with a letter dated

06.10.2025 issued by Punjab Wakf Board clearly stating that the lease rent stands paid and they had no objection to restore the affiliation of the School.

5. On 02.01.2026, the request of the petitioner for restoration of affiliation was declined on the ground that the lease period should be a minimum and continuous period of 5 years and there should be no termination clause in the subject lease.

6. Accordingly, the Punjab Waqf Board vide letter bearing No.

PWB/EO/RAJ/982 dated 09.01.2026, granted approval for extension of Lease period for another 35 months aggregating to 70 months i.e., from 01.08.2025 till 31.05.2031, and the termination clause was accordingly modified. Despite the same, the respondent has not withdrawn the Letters dated 20.09.2025 and 02.01.2026.

7. For the said reasons, issue notice.

8. Mr. Chaturvedi, learned counsel accepts notice, seeks and is granted 4 weeks to file a reply.

9. Mr. Chaturvedi, learned counsel for the respondent, raises preliminary objection concerning jurisdiction of this Court to adjudicate the present petition and also states that the petition is premature.

10. I am of the view that Prima-facie, the matter needs consideration for the reason that the Central Board of Secondary Education (“ CBSE ”) is having its office at New Delhi and the impugned orders have been issued from its office at New Delhi only, even though the petitioner