Submit date of GR that allowed forming of fee complaint panel, Bombay HC tells state

The Bombay high court (HC), while appreciating the initiatives by the state government to address the grievances of parents concerning the fees, by forming the Divisional Complaint Redressal Committee (DCRC), sought to know as to when the notification for constitution of the Divisional Fee Regulation Committees (DFRC) was issued after the petitioners disputed the claims that such committee was formed

The Bombay high court (HC), while appreciating the initiatives by the state government to address the grievances of parents concerning the fees, by forming the Divisional Complaint Redressal Committee (DCRC), sought to know as to when the notification for constitution of the Divisional Fee Regulation Committees (DFRC) was issued after the petitioners disputed the claims that such committee was formed. The court asked the state to produce the government notification on Thursday, failing which, it would be constrained to summon the joint secretary of the concerned department to verify the information submitted in the affidavit. The affidavit stated that the DFRC had been constituted and will start functioning at the earliest.

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A division bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice Girish Kulkarni, while hearing the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Atul Bhatkhalkar and some parents was informed that though schools had been functioning virtually during the entire period of the pandemic and would continue to do so till the lockdown restrictions were lifted by the government, the court should direct authorities to get the schools to provide various reliefs to parents and not act high-handedly by increasing fees for the new academic year.

The reliefs include collecting fees that were fixed for the academic year 2019-20, not hiking fees as no executive committees of parents-teachers and school managements were due to the pandemic and schools should allow parents to pay fees instalments and not debar the students from attending classes or appear for any competitive or board exam.

However, the education department through the deputy director of education Sandeep Sangave informed the court through an affidavit that the DFRC had been constituted and would get in touch with the executive committees and seek information about the fee structure from them. The affidavit further stated that the state had constituted DCRC to address the grievances of parents in January last year and it was adjudicating disputes between parents and schools managements.

After hearing the submissions, the court sought to know from the petitioners as to how any orders could be passed against schools without giving them a hearing to which Dr Saraf responded that issuing directions in this regard to the concerned divisional officers would suffice.

In light of the information furnished in the affidavit, the bench appreciated the education department but sought to know the date of the GR which permitted the constitution of the DFRC and posted hearing of the PIL to Thursday and observed that if the committee was not functional it would cause trouble for the parents and also result in the HC being inundated with petitions.