New Delhi: The Supreme Court
Thursday asked the Director of School Education of Madhya Pradesh to compile
details regarding compliance of directions given by the state High Court last
year that schools can recover only tuition fees from students during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court had also said in last year's
November 4 order that there shall not be increment in fee for academic session
2020-21. It had further stated that when the government declares pandemic is
over and schools return to normal physical functioning, the district committee
shall within 30 days from such declaration take decision on increment of fees
for remaining period of the session.
The apex court, which was hearing pleas against the high
court order, said the details received from the respective district committees
regarding compliance of directions given to the schools shall be displayed on
the official website of the education department of the state.
A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Sanjiv Khanna said if
the students of the academic year 2020-2021 have any grievance regarding
non-compliance of directions given by the high court, they can make representation
to the district level committee.
“We direct the Director, school education, of state of Madhya
Pradesh to compile the details from the respective district committees about
compliances made by the concerned schools within the concerned district and
display that infomation on the official website of education department of the
state of Madhya Pradesh,” the bench said, adding the High Court order pertained
to academic session 2020-2021.
It said if the data displayed by the education department on the
official website is discrepant in any manner, it would be open for the schools
to bring that to the notice of the concerned authority. During the arguments,
advocate Mayank Kshirsagar, appearing for some of the petitioners who are
parents, argued that the high court had said that schools can only charge
tuition fee but there was no protection in case of non-payment of fee.
Kshirsagar claimed that some of the schools have clubbed
other charges in the tuition fees. “You have to ask your officers to ensure
that order of the high court is implemented in letter and spirit,” the bench
told the counsel appearing for the state.
The High Court had passed the order on a batch of petitions
filed by parents, teachers or employees of unaided CBSE schools and others
which emanated from the notifications issued last year by the Central Board of
Secondary Education and school education department of Madhya Pradesh regarding
payment of fee in private unaided schools amid the COVID-19 induced lockdown
period during the pandemic. It had also directed that salaries of teaching and
non-teaching staff shall be regularly paid on the due date.
“In case if any reduced salary is paid, the reduction shall
not be more than 20 per cent and arrears towards reduced amount shall be paid
with the restoration of normalcy in six monthly equal installments,” the High
Court had said. It had said these directions were issued under the
unprecedented situation and would be prevalent till the pandemic era and would
not be treated as precedent in future with the restoration of normalcy.
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