The pandemic had put a damper on all economic activities, social and professional lives. Schools shifted from offline to online mode of education. This shift was expected to ease the fees, but in a recent Supreme Court case it was held that the pandemic doesn’t excuse the full payment of fees.
Facts
A Special Leave Petition (SLP) was filed by Vidya Bhavan Society, the Managing Committee of Sawai Mansingh Vidyalaya, Gandhi Seva Sadan and the Society of Catholic Education Institutions challenging the Fee-Regulation Act, 2016. The Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education (RBSE) has released an order on October 28th according to whose provisions that state-affiliated schools were to charge 60% and Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools 70% under the authority of the Rajasthan government.
Rajasthan High Court’s Order
The Rajasthan High court had permitted the order that was promulgated by the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education that allowed the permitted the collection of 60% of fees by State-affiliated schools and 70% of fees by CBSE schools. The order allowed the collection of 60% of fees as ‘capacity building fees’ for schools that had not reopened by resumed online classes.
Decision of Supreme Court
The Court held that parents will have to pay 100% of the school fees for the academic year 2020-2021. The fees should be the same as that of the academic year 2019-2020. The Court also ordered the State Government to pay the outstanding amount under Right to Education in a month. The order that was released by a bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar and comprising of Dinesh Maheshwari stated that the fees are to be collected for the time period starting from March 5 202. The collection of fees will be in six instalments. Non-payment of fees would not be ground for the omission of a child’s name from the exam list, the Court had clarified.
The Court also stated that non-deposition of fees cannot be considered grounds for denial of permitting a student from appearing for 10th and 12th standard board examinations. The Court, however, laid down that the parents of the students should give an undertaking that the arrears will be paid for later on. The Court also stated that the fees that were to be paid were for the academic year 2020-2021 was independent of the fees paid for the academic year of 2021-2022. The Court effectively stayed the Rajasthan High Court’s order. The Court re-emphasised that the order was an interim order.
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