The Delhi High Court today dismissed the AAP government's appeal against a single judge's interim order staying its new nursery admission norms based on the neighbourhood criterion. A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal directed the single judge to decide the petitions expeditiously.The bench also said the single judge should not go by its observation made in the interim order.<br/><br/>The division bench was hearing an appeal filed by the AAP government against a single judge's February 14 interim order, which stayed Delhi government's new nursery admission norm, saying "a student's educational fate can't be relegated to only his/her position on a map". Terming the criterion as "arbitrary and discriminatory",Justice Manmohan had said it benefited only those parents who live close to good private schools.<br/><br/>Challenging the interim order, the Delhi government had said that in the absence of the neighbourhood criterion, schools will accept admission in an arbitrary and opaque manner, and even justify charging exorbitant fees. The two associations, representing the schools and the parents, had alleged that the Delhi government has "discriminated" as the neighbourhood criteria had been applied against only 298 schools and not been made mandatory for 1,400 other schools in the city.