More than a dozen private schools including Christ Church get a setback from the High Court
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The option of provision of appeal before the State Committee against the order of the District Committee is open.
Highlights
The action taken by the district committee on fee refund and other issues was challenged. Those petitions of more than a dozen private schools of Jabalpur were dismissed. The private schools have the option of presenting an appeal before the state committee.
Naiduniya, Jabalpur (MP High Court). The Jabalpur Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court has given a shock to more than a dozen private schools. Many schools including Christ Church School, St. Aloysius School, Stemfield International School, Gyan Ganga Orchids International School, St. John’s School, Damoh had filed a petition saying that their school fees have been fixed by the District Committee and have been directed to return the increased fees.
The district committee cannot decide the school fees
The District Committee does not have the right to determine the school fees. Apart from this, they were not even given the opportunity to be heard before the said action. Therefore, the intervention of the High Court is expected. Deputy Advocate General Brahmadatt Singh argued against this on behalf of the state government.
Along with the details of income and expenditure, it will be necessary to tell how much the fees have been increased
The Deputy Advocate General said that there is a provision in various sections of MP Private School (Regulation of Fees and Related Matters) Rules-2020 that the school is required to provide the details of income and expenditure of the last three years along with the amount of increase in fees. When the information was not provided by the schools, a notice was issued to them.
The reply to the notice was not satisfactory, sufficient opportunity was given
Finding the reply to the notice unsatisfactory, the District Committee ordered the refund of the fee which was increased against the rules. Before issuing the order, the schools were also given ample opportunity to be heard. The petitioner private schools have the option of appealing before the State Committee against the order of the District Committee.
