PIL in Supreme Court seeks waiver of fees for College, University students amid COVID-19 Lockdown:

PIL is filed in the Supreme Court seeking directions to State/ UTs Governments pertaining to private and public college for providing relief, waive off, or moratorium on academic fees for the next semester and restrict them from asking lump sum amount from students.

The PIL is filed by Satyam Singh Rajput, National Founder, Justice for Rights Foundation, Advocate Amit Kumar Sharma, Supreme Court, Prateek Sharma student activist Delhi University and Diksha Dadu, a law student approached Supreme Court to waive off the fees in the private college and university and drafted by Advocate Deeksha Singh.

The NGO Justice for Rights Foundation has moved to the Supreme Court in this regarding to the directions for an effective mechanism however which relief in terms of fee waiver for College and University students can be carried out.

The writ petition before the Apex Court on the due payment of semester (bi-annual) fees for public and private colleges, whereby the petitioner said that students and parents are not in the appropriate financial condition to make such payments either due to loss of wages or deduction of wages which is coupled with financial hardship that students and parents currently face and there pandemic situation to compel either students and/or parents to provide for fees for the upcoming semester would further dire their current financial situation.  moreover The respondents in the petition were the Central Government along with State/ UTs Governments.

Moreover, the present demand by the educational institutions forces parents and students to choose between basic essential commodities required to survive lock down and to effectively exercise their right to uninterrupted education. That the Respondents in wake of such financial discomfort and mental trauma decided to issue notifications and orders declaring the payment of fees at the discretion of the parents and that the institution cannot force or hike the fees for the same. However, no such order has been passed for colleges and universities which is equally important for smooth continuation for college students. Further, right to education can only have effective meaning if it is read as a right to continuous and uninterrupted education, the reality also remains that many students and parents are supporting their educational endeavors by educational or friendly loans, which further add to the burden”, said the petition.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) said that the academic sessions would begin from August for existing students and from September for new students, with admission processes commencing in August.

The Petitioners stated that it is the core of an effective Govt that the Right to Life and personal Liberty and Right to Education,  under Article 21 and Article 21-A respectively for students both in private and government schools and colleges of the Constitution of India, is sacrosanct and the said right should not be made a part of a trade in hands of nefarious few.

Therefore, it says that failure on part of the State to provide adequate and effective mechanism for the implementation of aforementioned notification will only worsen the situation and thereby cause imbalance in the society and seeks directions to the Governments to issue appropriate orders and notifications for providing a waive off in the fees for university going students.

The case will be listed after 5th of May, 2020 as per the Supreme Court.

By Aman Pandey of Law College Dehradun