Haryana Listed 500 CHEERAG Seats at School After Recognition Withdrawal, Records Show

A private school in Haryana's Hisar district appeared on the state government's list of institutions eligible to admit economically weaker students under the CHEERAG (Chief Minister Equal Education Relief, Assistance and Grant) scheme for the 2026–27 academic session, despite an earlier order withdrawing its recognition and a Punjab and Haryana High Court judgment dismissing its challenge to that decision.

Official documents examined for this report show that CBC Memorial School in Barwala, Hisar, was listed at serial number 270 in the Directorate of Elementary Education's March 24 notification, with 500 seats declared across Classes 6 to 10. The same entry, bearing school code 21914, appeared again in a list published on May 8.

The discrepancy raises questions about how Haryana verifies the recognition status of private institutions participating in its government-funded admission scheme. However, it has not been established whether the withdrawal order was subsequently stayed, reversed or modified.

Under the CHEERAG scheme, eligible students from economically weaker families can attend participating recognised private schools, with the government providing fee reimbursement under the scheme's rules. The state's 2026–27 guidelines provide for admissions from Classes 6 to 12. The scheme requires participating schools to meet recognition and other eligibility requirements.

Recognition withdrawn after complaints by parents

The dispute involving CBC Memorial School predates the current admission cycle. On May 8, 2025, Haryana's Directorate of Secondary Education issued a show-cause notice to the school following complaints alleging that it had collected fees from parents whose children were admitted under CHEERAG.

The notice also recorded allegations that the institution refused to issue school-leaving certificates to some students and that complainants had faced caste-based abusive language. According to the notice, the District Education Officer, Hisar, had submitted a report in May 2024 stating that the school's principal had not appeared before education authorities or furnished requested records despite repeated written communications.

The department cited Rule 42 of the Haryana School Education Rules, 2003, concerning withdrawal of recognition, and sought an explanation from the school management.

The Director General of Secondary Education subsequently issued an order dated January 16/21, 2026, withdrawing the school's recognition with effect from the next academic session. A separate communication dated January 22 directed the Block Education Officer, Barwala, to ensure that students studying at the institution were shifted to nearby government schools. The school challenged both decisions before the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

High Court rejects school's challenge

In its February 4, 2026, judgment in CBC Memorial School v. State of Haryana and Others, Justice Kuldeep Tiwari dismissed the institution's petition. The school management, represented in person by Virender Singh, argued that it had been running the institution for 35 years and that the government had failed to release reimbursement payments allegedly due under CHEERAG for approximately four years.

Singh also claimed that the recognition-withdrawal action followed his efforts to obtain relief over the unpaid dues. These claims were recorded as the petitioner's submissions and were not accepted by the court as grounds to overturn the order.

The judgment records that the department had constituted a headquarters-level committee to investigate the parents' complaints, but that the school management failed to furnish the required documents.

During the hearing, the state submitted a list of 14 documents sought from the institution. The petitioner claimed that officials had already taken possession of the records during earlier inspections.

The court examined a visitor's register and vouchers submitted in support of that claim but found they did not establish that the department had taken custody of the documents.

Justice Tiwari concluded that the petitioner had failed to cooperate with the inquiry and found no grounds to interfere with the recognition-withdrawal decision.

The judgment also recorded complaints concerning alleged unauthorised fee demands, school-leaving certificates, attendance entries on the Management Information System and reimbursement claims.

Those allegations formed part of the administrative proceedings. The judgment should not be interpreted as a separate criminal finding that every allegation of financial misconduct had been proved.

School appears on government admission lists

Despite the withdrawal order and the subsequent High Court judgment, CBC Memorial School was included in the official CHEERAG admission list issued on March 24, 2026.

The entry identified the institution as a high school in Barwala and declared 100 seats each in Classes 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10.

A second departmental publication dated May 8, concerning admissions in 1,108 consenting recognised private schools, carried the same school entry and seat distribution.

The listing came after the department had already directed the transfer of students and after the High Court had dismissed the school's challenge.

The available documents do not explain whether the school's inclusion resulted from an outdated database, a failure to reconcile departmental records or a subsequent legal or administrative development.

Nor do the lists establish that 500 students were admitted. The figures represent declared available seats, not verified enrolment or reimbursement.

The distinction is important because CHEERAG admissions involve government-funded education. An institution's eligibility status is therefore relevant to student admissions and public expenditure.

Separate RTE record raises data-quality concerns

Another government dataset concerning the same school contains an unusual entry.

In an April 11, 2025, report generated from Haryana's seat-declaration portal under the Right to Education framework, CBC Memorial School, code 21914, was shown as declaring 200,000 seats each for Nursery, LKG, UKG and Class 1.

The total was recorded as 800,000 seats, with 200,000 shown in the corresponding 25% seat calculation.

The figure is far outside the scale ordinarily associated with an individual school and warrants verification against the original portal submission.

However, the RTE entry belongs to a different programme and reporting year. It does not establish that the school admitted that number of students, received funding against those seats or deliberately submitted false information.

It raises a separate question about whether the state's school-management databases contain effective checks against implausible seat declarations.

Questions over admissions and reimbursement

The case also highlights the importance of reconciling records across the Directorate of Secondary Education, the Directorate of Elementary Education and district-level education offices.

Haryana's March 2026 CHEERAG guidelines required participating schools to update admitted students' information on the MIS portal within two days of admission and report admission details to the relevant directorates within a week.

Those requirements could help establish whether any admissions actually took place at CBC Memorial School during 2026–27.

The latest recognition status, admission figures and reimbursement details were not independently available in the documents reviewed.

On October 27, Haryana's Directorate of Secondary Education also published a notice concerning a CHEERAG portal for 149 schools. The notice establishes an ongoing administrative development but does not identify CBC Memorial School as one of those institutions.

The February judgment, March and May admission lists, and earlier departmental records together establish a discrepancy requiring explanation.

Whether that discrepancy resulted in ineligible admissions, irregular reimbursement or merely an uncorrected public listing remains undetermined.

An examination of the school's current recognition file, any subsequent judicial orders, MIS admission records and government payment registers would be necessary to establish the outcome.

For parents seeking publicly funded education, the central issue is whether a school identified by the state as eligible for admission holds the recognition required to participate in the scheme.