No complaints of forcible fee collection by private schools so far, says govt

Chennai

The submission was made before a division bench comprising Justice Vineet Kothari and Justice R Suresh Kumar by special government pleader (Education) C Munusamy in response to a public interest litigation moved in this regard.

In April, the State government had issued an order under the provisions of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, prohibiting private educational institutions from forcible collection of fees when the country went into a lockdown to deal with the threat of the pandemic. The order was issued after it was brought to the notice of the authorities that some schools and colleges were demanding fees during the lockdown period.

Under the order signed by the Chief Secretary, these managements were asked not to compel students and parents to pay fee for the coming academic year or the dues from the last year.

But the petitioner who filed the PIL alleged that the State government has not put in place a mechanism for effective implementation of this Government Order.

However, during the hearing, the bench pointed out that the affidavit was devoid of vital details and instances that had prompted the filing of the petition. When the bench observed that it seemed like a publicity interest litigation, the advocate who moved the plea retorted saying the bench may dismiss the petition if it felt it was filed to garner publicity.

To this, the bench advised the advocate not to behave in such a fashion and sought to know about the instances where a particular school had forced parents to pay fee. When the advocate cited news reports that highlighted such cases, the bench asked the advocate to file additional information to buttress his case and adjourned the case.