NEW DELHI: Accusing the state government of deliberate delay in empowering a Delhi high court-appointed panel tasked with carrying out audit of private schools, a parents' association on Friday moved HC, seeking implementation of its orders.
The association blamed the government of being slack in notifying the committee, and alleged that it had not even begun the job of providing the committee with manpower to serve its purpose.
A division bench of Justice A K Sikri and Justice Siddharth Mridul issued notice to the government, seeking its reply by September 9. Earlier, the same bench had issued directions to set up a committee headed by former judge Anil Dev Singh to audit the accounts of each of the schools to ascertain if the hike was required. The bench authorized the committee to scrutinize the accounts of minority schools, too. That order had come on a PIL, which alleged that despite CAG's indictment of 25 private schools for accounting malpractices, including faking losses, the city government had allowed them to hike tuition fee.
"If the committee finds that the hike was not required, the schools are bound to return the money to students with 9% interest," the bench had said in a 143-page verdict on August 12. The committee also comprises J S Kochar, a chartered accountant, and an official from the Directorate of Education, to be nominated by the Delhi chief secretary.
Counsel for the parents, Ashok Aggarwal, told the court he is apprehensive about the committee facing resistance and non co-operation from the state government akin to the Justice Santosh Duggal Committee, which had led to "great injustice to lakhs of hapless parents". He urged HC to fast-track the process of notification of the committee so that audit of schools could be carried out to verify if hike in fee by them is justified.
In its judgment, the court had also suggested to the city government to create a permanent regulatory authority, either by amending the Education Act or by enacting a new legislation, to resolve the issue of periodic hikes in tuition fee. It also suggested the Central government to frame a national policy on fees for unaided schools.
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