Rajasthan HC passed an interim order allowing schools to take 70% of tuition fees for students in three installments

Rajasthan HC passed an interim order allowing schools to take 70% of tuition fees for students in three installments

The court passed an interim order in the writ petitions filed by the Catholic Education Institutions of Rajasthan and the Progressive School Association, NISA Education, School Education Family Association, and DGJ Educational Society.

The Rajasthan High Court has said in a prima facie view that schools cannot be denied tuition fees of students in relation to online classes. The court said that at this time the operating cost of the school is less than the normal time.

The single bench of Judge Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma passed an interim order allowing schools to take 70% of tuition fees for students in three installments from March 2020. The first installment will be deposited on or before 30.9.2020, while the second installment will have to be paid by 30.11.2020 and the third installment by 31.1.2021.

A bench said that students who have defaulted in payment of fees cannot be expelled from school but can be prevented from attending online classes.

These institutes challenged the state government’s order asking schools to stop the collection of fees from students indefinitely. The order said that unless the state government takes a decision on opening schools, schools should not charge fees from students. The government also directed that students’ names should not be deducted for non-payment of fees.

On behalf of the school organizations, senior advocate Kamalakar Sharma, advocate Dinesh Yadav and Shailesh Prakash Sharma challenged the government’s order stating that such directions are outside the purview of the Disaster Management Act, 2005. He had said that the schools were offering completely online classes, which are costing money. The salaries of the teachers are also to be paid. Therefore, the petitioners argued that the complete ban on collection of fees is unfair and arbitrary.

On behalf of the state government, Additional Advocate General Rajesh Maharishi said that it has been issued keeping in mind the impact of the epidemic and lockdown on people’s lives. Parents have had to bear the additional expense of purchasing laptops for their children’s online classes and therefore, when regular incomes have been reduced, forcing them to collect huge fees is not humane.

By Priya Kumari