Delhi govt challenges HC nod for pvt schools to collect annual fees

The Delhi govt has argued that the schools are adopting an inhumane approach

The Delhi government has challenged in the Delhi high court the order by a single judge allowing private schools in the city to collect annual fees and development charges.

The Delhi government has argued that “schools being charitable organisations are adopting an inhumane approach by charging parents more in the unprecedented time”. (HT Archive)

The judge on Monday quashed two orders issued by the Delhi government last year, prohibiting private schools from collecting annual charges and development fee during the Covid-19 lockdown. The judge ruled that schools may collect these charges for the last academic year, on a monthly basis, but only after a 15% reduction in the payable amount, in lieu of un-utilised facilities (such as water and electricity) during the lockdown.

The matter was urgently mentioned on Friday, following which it was listed for hearing before a bench of justices Manmohan and Navin Chawla on Monday.

The Delhi government has argued that “schools being charitable organisations are adopting an inhumane approach by charging parents more in the unprecedented time”.

“...Therefore, creating such a pressure to recover from the parents who are already struggling to save their family from medical emergencies is nothing but an inhuman approach which may not be allowed by this court. Needless to say each and every family is incurring expenses... with economy at an all-time low and people losing jobs which makes the survival of common man more difficult,” the government said in the appeal.

Justice Jayant Nath on June 1 quashed orders issued on April 18, 2020 and August 28, 2020, which restricted private schools in the city to collect additional charges.

The high court ruled that the prohibition on collecting the charges is “illegal and “ultra vires” to the powers of Delhi government’s directorate of education under the Delhi School Education (DSE) Act and Rules.

The Action Committee Unaided Recognised Private Schools, an umbrella body of 450 private unaided schools in Delhi, moved the court in September 2020 against the Delhi government orders, saying that the orders curtail the rights of the educational institutions to fix their own fees.

In its appeal against the June 1 order, the Delhi government has said extra charges such as development fees was suspended as the upgradation, improvement and maintenance was not required when the schools were closed for more than one and a half years.