RTE non-payment by Tamil Nadu Government

I wrote on my Facebook status about the Tamil Nadu Government not paying the dues to the private schools which provided 25% reservation in admission to socially and economically deprived sections as envisaged under the Right to Education Act, resulting in the private schools threatening to stop admissions under this 25% category for the upcoming year.

The comments to my status, from socialists, communists and generally ill-informed people can broadly be summarised as follows:

1. Private schools make massive profits. Hence Government need not pay the money due to them. Or at the least delay for as long as you can. Because they can afford it.
2. If the Government doesn't pay on time, it is the job of the private schools to go to court. Why aren't they doing this? Obviously they should be motivated and want to scrap the 25% reservation.
3. If the Government doesn't pay, the only option open to the private schools is to negotiate or go to court. They have no right to stop the 25% reservation, because they are bound by law. [Note that according to these people, law doesn't bind the Government in its obligation to pay the money on time. It only binds the private schools in offering the services forced on them.]
4. If running private schools under such hard circumstances created by the Government is that bad, why not get the hell out of this area and hand over the schools to the Government. [As if, the Government is all ready to take over such schools and start running from tomorrow morning!]

What these people fail to notice is some basic Dharmic principles besides a host of legal issues.

1. A Government is as bound by law as you and me. A law passed in the Parliament is stronger than a mere contract signed between two parties. A Government is duty bound to fulfill the financial obligations especially when it brought the obligations on itself. It was not forced on it by outsiders.
2. There is a strong moral issue here. A Government that has completely abdicated its responsibility in providing basic primary education to its people has forced 25% reservations on the private schools on the explicit promise that it will compensate for the same. In fact, the compensation is inadequate - because the Government has only agreed to pay the lower of the fee or the money it claims it spends on its own schools per student. There is no auditing powers with the schools. If the Government says it spends only 10,000 Rs per student per year, that is all it will pay a school, which is normally collecting say 30,000 or more from its non-reservation students. Schools did not have a choice in opting out of this patently biased system, because the Parliamentary rights were invoked in passing this unjust law. Now, on top of this unjust law, the Government has not fulfilled its side of the bargain. This is so morally repugnant, we do not see the kind of outrage that should really be happening in any civilised country. But in socialist India, this does not cause any moral outrage but instead we see perfectly sane individuals coming and asking the private schools to buzz off. I am simply astonished by the moral bankruptcy of this class of people.

Issues that will have to be discussed and debated outside of this debate are:

1. Is RTE enforcing 25% reservation with Government paying for those seats a fair law at all?
2. Should the Government be building its own schools instead of paying even one penny to the private schools?
3. Are the private schools basically cheats and hence should be closed down once and for all?

These debates in no way can mitigate the current immoral and illegal activities of our Government and any one supporting the Government action or defending it on dubious principles should really ask themselves whether this is the model in which they want themselves to be governed.