New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has directed the Cyber Crime Cell of the city police to file a report detailing their views on the genuineness of the emails sent to two branches of Apeejay School from the Directorate of Education to hike the fees after the latter had alleged that communications were forged.
Justice Rajiv Shakdher also directed the school authorities to not charge any amount besides the tuition fees while also directing them to pay salaries of staff and teachers at rates prevailing earlier.
“The Cyber Crime Cell, Delhi Police will file a report before this Court with regard to their view as to the genuineness of the e-mails referred to hereinabove i.e. e-mails dated 12.12.2019, 16.12.2019 and 25.02.2020,” the judge said in its order dated May 18.
The court’s order comes while hearing a plea from the school management challenging the Directorate of Education’s (DoE) April 22 finding, that the two institutions had illegally hiked fees and compelled parents to pay that along with arrears, and its recommendation to lodge an FIR against the management and seal the premises.
Reacting to the order, the school authorities said, “The High Court has once again found merits in our argument against these malafide intentions and ordered no coercive action thus no FIR will be registered. The DOE has not responded to our repeated pleas to appoint an independent investigator for these baseless and malicious accusations and the court has now given directions for the same”.
{{/usCountry}}Reacting to the order, the school authorities said, “The High Court has once again found merits in our argument against these malafide intentions and ordered no coercive action thus no FIR will be registered. The DOE has not responded to our repeated pleas to appoint an independent investigator for these baseless and malicious accusations and the court has now given directions for the same”.
{{/usCountry}}“The court has accepted and upheld our request to charge old the fees, pro tem, until the investigation is complete in a few weeks. We have complete faith in the law and look forward to the investigator bringing out the truth. Apeejay schools carry the 50+ years of education legacy and have been historically known for its values and promotion of education as a social cause. We will take all legal actions against those who threaten the future of our students and tarnish the good name of our parents and teachers especially at a time when society needs to be united in support of each other. Our values prevent us from bowing down to extortion and corruption at any level,” a statement issued by the school authorities said.
In its plea filed through advocate Sanjeev Ralli, the school authorities had contended that the petitioners were unaware of the decision of the DoE seeking permission to initiate criminal proceedings against them and hence could not have used it in the earlier cases contested in the high court.
He also contended that the emails in question were sent by the Deputy Director, DOE and/or his office to the school authorities.
Appearing for the DoE, its additional standing counsel, Gautam Narayan told the court that the emails were forged and not sent by the concerned department.
The court issued notice to the Delhi government, the police and the DoE on the plea and asked the school management or officials to join the police investigation while directing that no coercive action would be taken against them till the next date of hearing.
The counsel for the school assured the court that it would collect only the tuition fees on the rate that were applicable in the financial year 2017-2018. The matter would be now heard on June 8.