Plea seeks govt to take over fee collection in pvt schools

A division bench comprising Justice MM Sundresh and Justice R Hemalatha, before whom the plea moved by KM Karthik, a social activist from Tiruchy came up for hearing on Monday, ordered notice returnable in four weeks.

The PIL, while also seeking to reduce the fee structure of private schools and colleges to the maximum possible after a detailed audit by the Income Tax department, contended that the absence of a proper monitoring and surveillance system has resulted in gross malpractices with teachers being underpaid and students fleeced despite pandemic rendering most of them to poverty.

Citing the recovery of money worth several cores in just three private institutions, the plea alleged that in these unprecedented times, the teachers do not demand the pay as shown in the record, because they themselves have no access to the records.

Since the actual paid salaries are much lesser than those shown in the records submitted before the IT department, the schools and colleges can reduce the fee amount from 25 per cent to 50 per cent and still pay the salaries to teachers, the petitioner argued while seeking to direct the government treasuries to take over fee collection in private institutions to protect State’s education system.