The high court on Friday ordered guardians of the parents of 149 unaided, private schools to pay full fees from March.
The division bench of Justice I.P. Mukerji and Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya, which passed the order, also asked the guardians to pay 80 per cent of the fees for the period between April 2020 and February 2022 by March 25.
“But the school authorities are barred from taking any coercive measure against the student, including terminating them from school, for failing to pay 80 per cent of the fees between the period of April 2020 to February 2022 by the stipulated period of March 2022,” the order stated.
“The schools and other educational institutions shall be permitted to charge fees according to their policy and arrangement with the students,” the order said.
Guardians of students of the 149 private schools had moved the court in 2020 saying the schools were demanding fees for the services they were not providing because of the closure of the schools amid the pandemic.
Fees for school buses, computers, libraries and games were being demanded though these services were not being provided, a lawyer appearing for the guardians had submitted in the court.
The high court had on October 14, 2020, ordered private schools, including those run by the Church, to waive 20 per cent of the tuition fees between April 2020 and a month after the resumption of in-person classes.
On Monday, the state government allowed reopening of schools for students from the pre-primary level to Class VII from Wednesday.
“Now Covid situation is almost over and the schools are reopening gradually, so the court has modified its order,” a lawyer not involved in the case said on Friday.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had on June 10, 2020, requested private schools at a news conference at Nabanna not to hike fees or slap extra charges because “people don’t have money to spend”.
The state school education department had on July 21, 2020, said schools should levy “proportionate charges” for services offered to students during the lockdown.
“The court is absolutely correct in modifying its verdict as full-scale on-campus academic activities are going to be restored following the state government’s order on resumption of in-person classes. We had advocated for proportionate charges because of the circumstances prevailing then,” an official of the department said on Friday.
The high court had on December 4 said no unaided private school could prevent any student from appearing in an examination for failing to pay at least 80 per cent fees.
