Have deposited 75 p.c. of excess fees: 90 pvt schools tell HC

NEW DELHI: Weeks after the Delhi government announced to take over private schools that have not returned excess fees, nearly 90 such schools in the capital on Monday told the Delhi High Court that they have complied with its order by depositing 75 per cent of the excess fees charged from students.

Another 20-odd schools said they would deposit 75 per cent of the amount

within a period of two days to two weeks, as recommended by the Justice Anil Dev Singh Committee set up by the high court.

A bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Najmi Waziri protected the schools, which claimed they had deposited the money with the high court registry, from any coercive action subject to their claims being verified by the Delhi government.

It also said that those schools which deposit the money within the time stated before the court will also be protected from any coercive action after their claims are verified by the Directorate of Education (DoE).

The bench asked the DoE of the Delhi government to verify the claims of deposit in all the matters and inform the court on October 27, the next date of hearing.

Meanwhile, the Action Committee, an association representing several hundred private schools which had challenged the Dev Singh committee's recommendations, withdrew its plea after the court said that several of its members have raised similar grievances in their respective petitions.

"There is no need for the multiplicity of proceedings," the bench said.

During the hearing, Delhi government standing counsel Ramesh Singh told the bench that till September 22, around Rs 60 crore was deposited by 61 private schools.

The court had on September 6 directed the private schools that have failed to refund the excess fee charged by them despite a government order, to deposit 75 per cent of the principal amount within 14 days to avoid any coercive action.