Chandigarh: Punjab school education minister Vijay Inder Singla on Wednesday said that the state government will challenge the single judge’s order allowing private schools to collect tuition fee before a division bench of the high court.
“We will file the LPA (letter patent appeal) in a day or two,” he said at a press conference.
The decision to file the appeal was taken at a meeting in which Singla, chief secretary Vini Mahajan, advocate general Atul Nanda and school education secretary Krishan Kumar were present.
On Tuesday, the Punjab and Haryana high court bench of justice Nirmaljit Kaur said that irrespective of whether schools offered online classes during the lockdown period or not, they are entitled to collect tuition fee. The judge also permitted them to collect admission fee.
The schools have, however, been restrained from increasing the fee for the 2020-21 session.
On May 14, the court had allowed private schools in Punjab to charge 70% fee from students for the academic year as an interim measure. The court had also allowed schools to charge admission fee in two installments in six months and further directed that teachers in these schools would have to be paid 70% of their salaries.
It had acted on a petition from the Independent Schools’ Association, Chandigarh, with member schools in Punjab, after the association had contested the government move to allow schools to charge only tuition fee during the lockdown and not building, transportation and meal charges. The schools had argued that if not allowed to collect or increase the fee, how would they pay teachers?
{{/usCountry}}It had acted on a petition from the Independent Schools’ Association, Chandigarh, with member schools in Punjab, after the association had contested the government move to allow schools to charge only tuition fee during the lockdown and not building, transportation and meal charges. The schools had argued that if not allowed to collect or increase the fee, how would they pay teachers?
{{/usCountry}}The decision to allow 70% fee collection had led to parents holding protests. Subsequently, the state government and organisations of parents had become party to the dispute.