HC directs Delhi govt to file submissions on pleas against allowing private schools to charge annual fees

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh listed the matter for July 14 after all the advocates said it be given a final hearing on Wednesday.

The Delhi High Court has directed the Delhi government and other parties to file written submissions in plea challenging a single judge order allowing private unaided schools to take annual and development charges from students for the period when the lockdown was uplifted in the national capital last year. 
A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh listed the matter for July 14 after all the advocates said it be given a final hearing on Wednesday.

“Parties may file their written submissions before the next date of hearing. List on July 14,” the bench said.

On June 7, the Delhi High Court had issued notices and sought responses of the Action Committee Unaided Recognised Private Schools, which represents over 450 schools, on the appeals of the AAP government, students and an NGO challenging the single judge’s May 31 order.

The division bench, however, had refused to stay the single judge’s order. It had earlier recorded the statement made by senior advocate Shyam Divan and lawyer Kamal Gupta, representing the action committee that till the next date of hearing, they will continue to follow the existing principles in relation to the collection of fees from students.

The Delhi government and the students and NGO ‘Justice for All’ have contended that the single judge's decision was based on incorrect facts and law.

On May 31, the HC in its verdict had quashed two office orders of April and August last year issued by the Directorate of Education (DoE) of the Delhi government forbidding and postponing collection of annual charges and development fees, saying they were "illegal" and "ultra vires" the powers of DoE stipulated under the Delhi School Education (DSE) Act and the Rules. Senior advocate Vikas Singh and Delhi government standing counsel Santosh Kumar Tripathi had argued that the single judge gravely erred in passing the directions on the basis of a Supreme Court order relating to the collection of school fees.

The Delhi government has contended that its orders of April and August last year were issued in larger public interest as due to the COVID-19 lockdown people were in financial crisis. The single judge verdict, passed on the plea by Action Committee Unaided Recognised Private Schools, said that schools shall collect annual fees with a deduction of 15 per cent as allowed by the apex court in the Indian School case.

It also said the amount payable by the students have to be paid in six monthly installments from June 10.

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