Plea in Delhi High Court: 457 schools didn’t refund excess fee
Delhi High Court. (Express photo: Ravi Kanojia/File) Delhi High Court. (Express photo: Ravi Kanojia/File)
As many as 457 unaided private schools have defied a Delhi government order to refund excess fees collected from students within a week, a plea in the Delhi High Court said Wednesday. A bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Vinod Goel has sought the response of the government and the schools on a petition by Delhi Abhibhavak Mahasangh, a parents’ body, seeking to attach bank accounts of the erring schools that failed to refund fee with 9 per cent interest to parents, in accordance with the Justice Anil Dev Singh Committee recommendations.
The bench also pulled up the Delhi government, directing it to take action against erring schools and file a status report within four weeks.
Advocate Ashok Agarwal, appearing for the parents’ body, contended that “parents have become frustrated and hopeless as nearly a decade has passed and fees have not been refunded to them”.
On May 16, the government had directed 575 schools to pay back excess fee collected from students and to comply with recommendations of the Justice Anil Dev Singh Committee within seven days.
The petition alleged that 457 schools have failed to comply with the recommendations despite the time frame set by the government. “The said period has lapsed and schools continue to defy this court and the government,” the petition said.
In 2009, the government had passed an order allowing private schools to increase their fee to meet financial requirements to pay teachers. The court, hearing a petition challenging the validity of that order, observed that schools could collect the fee subject to the condition that they would return the excess money with an interest of 9 per cent per annum if it was found that the money payable was less than what the students paid.
The plea added that the estimated excess amount, along with interest payable at 9 per cent per annum to the parents, is to the tune of Rs 750 crore.
The plea also alleged that the government only provides lip service in the name of implementing the order and is taking no action against the erring schools.
Adding that the stipulated time frame to implement the recent order issued by the Delhi government has lapsed and the schools continue to brazenly defy the orders issued by the government, it mentioned that 118 of the 575 schools identified by Justice Singh committee deposited some amounts in the court.
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