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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Delhi HC appoints committee to scrutinize fee hike by the schools by Hary M Pillai

Delhi HC appoints committee to scrutinize fee hike by the schools by Hary M Pillai

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published Published on Aug 15, 2011   modified Modified on Aug 15, 2011
The Delhi High Court today appointed an adhoc regulatory committee to examine the 2009 notification of the Delhi government which allowed schools to hike tuition and development fees.

The court in its judgment on a bunch of petitions filed by various parents associations, including the Delhi Abhibhavak Mahasangh, also suggested to the Delhi government to constitute an expert committee which can go into the feasibility of establishing a regulatory body for unaided/aided and recognized private schools in Delhi. The expert committee can also recommend the changes that are required to be made in the existing law or to suggest separate legislation if that is required.

The division bench of Justice AK Sikri and Justice Siddharth Mridul also suggested considering the feasibility of formulating a National Policy on Fee structure.

The committee will comprise of Justice Anil Dev Singh, retired Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court who will be assisted by JS Kochar, Chartered Accountant and another Member from the field of Education, who shall be nominated by the Chief Secretary, Govt. of  NCT of Delhi.

All the schools, including the schools which had hiked their fees as well as minority and private unaided/aided schools, have been directed by the high court to “render full cooperation to the Committee in order to enable the Committee to undertake its job effectively and speedily”. Thus the order of the court is applicable on more than 2000 schools in Delhi and not just the 25 schools which had hiked their fees.

The court clarified in its order that the hike in fees was only an interim measure. “We reiterate that the fee hike contained in orders dated 11.02.2009 was by way of interim measure.”

The court also said that “there is a need to inspect and audit accounts of the schools to find out the funds to meet the increased obligation cast by the implementation of Sixth Pay Commission and on this basis, to determine in respect of these schools as to how much hike in fee, if at all, is required.”

The court further added that if it is found that the increase in fee proposed is more, then the same shall be slided down and the excess amount paid by the students shall be refunded along with interest of 9 percent.  On the other hand, if a particular school is able to make out a case for higher increase, then it would be permissible for such schools to recover from the students over and above what is charged in terms of Notification dated 11.02.2009.

The fee hike was approved by the Delhi government in February 2009 to ease the financial stress on schools as a result of the hike in teachers’ salaries as per the Sixth Pay Commission. But 25 schools completely passed on the burden to the parents, when they could have avoided it to some extent by utilizing their accumulated reserves first to meet the salary increases.

The CAG till date had audited only 25 schools. These 25 schools were also pulled up by the CAG in its audit.

Law etal News, 12 August, 2011, http://www.lawetalnews.com/NewsDetail.asp?newsid=4551


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