Court issues directives to pay fee with 15 pc concession in 1 week

Aurangabad, March 28:

The Aurangabad bench of Bombay High Court comprising Justice R D Dhanuka and Justice S G Mehre directed petitioners to pay tuition fee with a 15 per cent concession in a week while Cambridge School was asked to accept it.

According to details, many schools conducted online classes for two years of Covid outbreak. The State Government issued orders on August 12, 2021, about 15 per cent fee concessions in all the private non-aided schools. Also, the Supreme Court gave orders about 15 per cent fee concessions in a decision dated May 3, 2021.

However, Cambridge School increased 25 per cent fees on the pretext of transportation charges since August 2021. Parents of 11 students filed a petition in the court stating that each student had to pay Rs 16,800 extra for every academic year. Adv Amit Mukhedkar (party-in-person) appeared for the petitioners.

Adv Mukhedkar argued that increasing fee in Covid situation is an injustice. “The Tuition Fee Committee was not set up in the school nor parents were taken into confidence while increasing it. The school has not followed the Government decision and SC orders,” the parents stated in the petition.

The court directed the Education Department to set up Tuition Fee Committee and clear the grievances about the fee in four weeks. Veteran lawyer R N Dhorde represented the schools while adv Sujit Karlekar appeared for the State while adv Sadanand Deve was present for the Central Government. Adv Prashant Nagre appeared for the Zilla Parishad.