Enraged over schools without any playgrounds being allowed to operate for standards one to eight in the national capital, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the Centre and Delhi government why the 'shop-like schools' were being allowed to function.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar asked the Ministry of Human Resource Development to answer how the schools were operating under the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) when they 'looked like shops'.

'These are schools? They look like shops. They are running standards one to eight? Don't they require a playground? What are you (Centre, Delhi government) doing?

'How are you allowing such schools?' were the queries posed to the authorities by the bench after perusing photographs of the schools run by MS Educational and Welfare Trust in north Delhi.

The court further said that 'students enrolled at these shop-like schools will get certificates without any studies'.

It directed the HRD ministry to file an affidavit indicating on what basis such institutions were being allowed to operate in the city and listed the matter for further hearing on November 29.

The court was hearing two petitions -- one a PIL by Delhi resident Mohd Kamran seeking action against such schools and another by the trust challenging a Delhi government order directing closure of some of its institutions.

The schools' photographs were annexed in the PILs.

The Delhi government told the court that it has issued show cause notices to three such schools and a fourth had approached it for recognition, but a decision was yet to be taken.

To this, the bench said,'If there is no playground and it is a shop-like school, you (Delhi government) can immediately take a decision within 10 minutes.'

The trust, in its defence, contended that it was a minority trust school accreditated with the NIOS.

It said it was following the NIOS syllabus provided by the Ministry of HRD, leading to the court asking the ministry how it was allowing such schools to function.