The Delhi high court on Monday issued notices to the Union government and the National Educational Planning and Administration in connection with a petition seeking a ban on interviews for admission to pre-primary classes.

Several schools put both kids and their parents through a series of interviews for admission to pre-primary classes.

A division bench of Justice D K Jain and Justice S R Bhatt is hearing a petition filed by three parents challenging a single bench order of January 12, 2003 rejecting their plea for banning the practice.

The court has given four weeks' time to over 100 unaided, recognised public schools in the capital to file their replies. The matter will be heard again on August 30.

The petitioners have also accused the schools of violating the 1997 Neighbourhood School Policy of the Delhi Government under which they are obliged to admit kids residing within a 3-km radius of their institutions.