The Supreme Court today referred to the five-judge constitution bench a bunch of petitions challenging the validity of the law providing free and compulsory education. A bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia said that the the matter will be put before a larger bench of five judges to pass direction on the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of provisions in the Right to Free and CompulsoryEducation Act. The Act made free and compulsory education a fundamental right for children between 6-14 years, besides mandating that even private educational institutions have to reserve 25 per cent of the seats for children from poor families. The petitions claimed the Act violated the rights of private educational institutions under Article 19(1)(g) whichprovided maximum autonomy to private managements to run their institutions without governmental interference. The petitioners recalled the 11-judge Constitution Bench ruling of the Supreme Court in the TMA Pai case wherein it wasruled that maximum autonomy should be provided to private educational institutions.