Act on fee regulation in schools upheld
CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Friday upheld the validity of the Tamil Nadu Schools (Regulation of Collection of Fee) Act 2009.
In its 52-page common judgment disposing of a batch of writ petitions, the First Bench comprising Chief Justice H.L. Gokhale and Justice K.K. Sasidharan, said the Act was in consonance with the law laid down by the Supreme Court, and it by and large struck a balance between institutions' autonomy and measures to prevent commercialisation of education. There were sufficient guidelines in the statute for either approving or fixing the fees, the Bench said. However, the Bench held Section 11 of the Act as ultra vires Article 14 of the Constitution. The power of the District Committee or its members under Section 11 (2) of the Act and Rules 4(4) and 4(5) to enter private schools or its premises or those of the management at any time for search, inspection and seizure are held to be arbitrary. The petitioners, the Tamil Nadu Nursery, Matriculation and Higher Secondary Schools Association and others which were unaided private school managements, sought to declare the legislation and its rules as unconstitutional.Additional Advocate-General P.Wilson pointed out that several commissions, including the Kothari Commission on education, had emphasised appropriate measures with regard to reforms in the education sector.
The Bench said the impugned Act in no way fixed a rigid fee.
No fee hike, yet!
Here’s some good news for parents whose children go to unaided schools. No fee hikes until the High Court issues a directive. What will definitely make them happier is that schools may have to return the ‘extra fees’ that they charged
Parents of children who go to unaided schools can breathe a sigh of relief, thanks to the latest government resolution (GR) regarding the much debated fee hike. The GR has stated that there will be no fee hike until the next direction comes from the Bombay High Court. It also states that schools which do not follow the norms may face action by the School Education Department. With this fresh GR, schools may have to return any excess fees they had charged earlier. Various parent associations are now demanding that they should be refunded the excess fees immediately.
Jayant Jain, president of the All India Federation of Parents Teachers Association (AIFPTA), said, “We appreciate this decision taken by the government. Although it is a bit late, we feel that the government should take action against those schools who fail to obey this order.
The government should also take suitable steps to refund the hiked fees, as most of the schools have already increased their fees by about 80 per cent and may not be willing to refund the same.” Jain who also heads the Forum for Fairness in Education, appealed to parents, “The parents whose children are in those schools should also come forward and lodge complaints with the Education Department or inform the Forum for Fairness in Education if schools refuse to refund the fees.”
The earlier decision of the government (GR dated February 23) was interpreted as permission to hike fees. Parents’ organisations in the city approached the government to clarify the decision and give a directive regarding it. Finally, the state government has come up with a fresh GR dated March 4, stating that no fee hike will be allowed till further directive from the High Court.
Abhijit Kundu, a parent from Pune, said, “Many schools like Delhi Public School have raised fees with effect from April 2009. Parents should get back the excess amount they have paid as the GR says that the fee structure should be as it was in 2008-09.” Sandip Chavan of D Y Patil Parents Association said, “There are many schools in Pune which have hiked fee by almost 40 to 80 per cent. The government should take action against these schools.” As per the High Court directive last year, the state government had formed a committee to decide the norms of fee structures for unaided schools.
Retired IAS officer Kumud Bansal headed the committee, which submitted its report five months ago. However, parents are opposing the Bansal committee report saying that it is pro-management and against the interests of parents. PTA United Forum, a Mumbai-based organisation has now formed an action committee to oppose the Bansal committee report. Arundhati Chavan of the Action committee said, “With persistent efforts from the Action Committee against the Bansal report, the government has come out with a fresh GR favouring the parents.
Parents should now approach their respective schools and demand a refund from the school managements who have gone ahead and charged the increased fee.”
School fee hike for 2010-11 under scanner
Pune: Many city schools that had notified the parents about a fee hike for the academic year 2010-11 are in for a trouble as the office of the deputy director of education has issued a warning that no schools would be allowed to hike fees at will.
There are about 100 English medium schools in the city and many of them had sent notices about the fee hike for the coming year. Deputy director of education Sunil Magar on Friday issued a circular to all the schools that no school could hike fees without the permission of the deputy director’s office. “As per the government resolution dated May 8, 2009, the schools are not allowed to increase fees without the permission of fee regulatory committee,” said Magar.
There are around 700 aided and unaided schools in the city. “Some parents and students’ organisations have filed complaints with the deputy director’s office regarding schools distributing circulars to parents about hike in fees for the next academic year. We have taken cognisance of this and issued a circular that schools cannot do so without our permission,” he said.
Delhi HC stays Govt order against school fee hike
The Delhi High Court stayed the Delhi government's order barring schools from hiking fees without the approval of Parents Teachers Associations.
A Division Bench headed by Justice A K Sikri stayed the recent notification of Education Department on a plea of schools that the government should not issue any order on fee hike till the disposal of their petition in the court. Meanwhile, the court extended the time granted to the government by two weeks for filing its reply to a notice on a petition filed by the parents association challenging the government's permission to schools to hike their fees.
The Bench was hearing a PIL, filed by the Delhi Abhibhavak Sangh, Social Jurists, an NGO, and Faith Academy Parent's Association through counsel Ashok Aggarwal alleging that the government had gone contrary to the recommendation given by S L Bansal Committee, constituted to look into the fee hike by schools.
No comments:
Post a Comment