Gurgaon: Relief for parents as Blue Bells school told to refund hiked fees

While directed the Blue Bells management to refund increased fees, Gurgaon’s divisional commissioner also advised parents to pay the second quarter fees in accordance previous year’s fee structure

Hundreds of parents, who had protesting against unregulated fee hike over the last four months, finally got some relief on Monday after Gurgaon’s divisional commissioner D Suresh ordered the Blue Bells group of schools to refund the increased amount and asked parents to pay the second quarter fees as per the fee structure of the previous year.

A group of parents and members of the school management were present at the divisional commissioner’s office when he announced his decision to refund hiked fees. (Parveen Kumar/HT FILE)

A group of parents and members of the school management were present at the divisional commissioner’s office when he announced his decision. He ordered the school to refund the money with immediate effect.

D Suresh, who is also the chairman of the fee and fund regulatory committee (FFRC), had in March directed city schools to not demand an advance fee and only charge the fee as per the heads mentioned in Form 6. However, the schools allegedly didn’t adhere to it.

“The decision by the Blue Bells group of schools to hike fees was illegal and arbitrary and hence it has been declared null and void. We have directed the school management to refund the raised fee,” Suresh said.

Blue Bells Group of Schools runs two schools in sectors 4 and 10.

“The divisional commissioner said that the fee hike is justified and within permissible limit but due to the delay, he has ordered a rollback. However, he said we could file an appeal against the order if we are willing. We have not received a copy of the order yet,” Suman Gulati, director, Blue Bells group of schools, said.

Parents, however, expressed happiness and thanked the divisional commissioner.

“We are happy that finally, our struggle has paid off. We had lost all hope, as it (the order) was delayed by two months. We visited the authorities every week hoping for relief. We feel our struggle and the success at the end of it will serve as examples for other parents to follow,” Mahesh Yadav, a parent, said.

Read I Gurgaon: Parents to step up protest against huge school fee hike on Sunday

Parents said they will submit the fees on Tuesday itself . The school has also been directed to adjust the extra fees paid by the parents in the first quarter.

“This order has restored our belief in the system and administration and we are finally relieved after four months of struggle. Now we can concentrate on our work and our children can focus on their studies,” Rajdeep Kaur, another parent, said.

Earlier, the divisional commissioner had ordered DPSG , Palam Vihar to refund the hiked fees to the parents.