Patna, May 4: St Xavier’s school today got a clean chit from Bihar State Child Right Protection Commission (BSCRPC) over allegations that the school did not conduct the lottery system during admissions.

Parents of some children on March 13, lodged an FIR, alleging that the school authorities did not conduct the random selection process (lottery system) in front of the parents, during admissions of children to Class I. A three-member panel of BSCRPC was formed to probe into the matter.

In its judgment, the committee stated that the principal, Father George Nedumattam, had carried the random selection procedure during the admission process as per Right to Education (RTE) Act provisions. The school had done this in front of the executive committee members of Parents Teachers’ Association.

The committee further said: “The RTE Act nowhere states clearly or specifies where and in front of whom the random selection process has to be conducted.” The three-member committee included district education officer Kiran Kumari, Bimal Kumar Jain of BSCRPC and a parent/complainant Afzal Haq Kadri.

Sources in the commission said Father Nedumattam during the investigation said he used to take admissions by himself, along with employees of the school before, but this time, under the provisions of the RTE Act the random selection was done in front of the executive committee members of Parents Teachers’ Association.

He also said if anybody proves him wrong, he is ready to cancel all the admissions this year. Even the parent and complainant in the three-member committee had said the principal was not wrong.

At that time, senior superintendent of police Alok Kumar had said: “An FIR has been lodged against the school principal and four school members by the parents under Sections 420, 406 and 120(b). The parents have alleged that the school did everything by itself after which the admission list was put up.”

Head of the committee, Bimal Kumar Jain said: “We came to the conclusion that the school including the principal had gone by the norms and it had carried a lottery while taking admissions in Class I. Since it has not been specified in the RTE Act on how one has to go about the random selection procedure, the school cannot be held responsible. From next year, schools will get proper guidelines as to what they have to do while taking admissions.”