Excess fee refund: HC seeks compliance report from DOE

As none of the 508 unaided private schools found charging unjustified exorbitant fee has refunded the excess fee to parents, Delhi high court on Wednesday sought a status report from the Directorate of Education (DOE), Delhi government on compliance of the orders of Justice Anil Dev Singh Fee Review Committee. 

The high court-appointed committee has so far scrutinised the accounts of 990 unaided private schools and found that 508 schools had extorted over Rs 250 crore excess fee from parents in the name of implementing recommendations of sixth Pay Commission 2009. 

“As the Delhi government is not taking interest to refund the excess fee, private schools are working on their whims and fancies and extorting the parents. The refundable amount is more than 

Rs  250 crore,” said Ashok Agarwal, the counsel in the case to the Bench headed by Justice B D Ahmed. 

The three-member committee, constituted by an order of Delhi high court on September 23, 2011, on Wednesday, submitted its VIII interim report in the court in which it had audited accounts of 95 schools and found that 55 among them had charged unjustified exorbitant fee while hikes in 26 private schools were reasonable. 

“The records of 11 schools were unreliable, the committee has recommended special investigation in these matters. In three schools, <g data-gr-id="26">fee</g> hike was found unjustified but records were missing so besides ordering the refund, <g data-gr-id="27">inquiry</g> has also been recommended against them,” said the report. 

In the VIII report, the famous schools found overcharging students are — Sanskriti School, New Delhi; Delhi Public School, Rohini and Dwarka, St Matthew School Public School, Paschim Vihar; St Rosier Public School, Shalimar Bagh; Green Valley International Public School, Najafgarh and K R <g data-gr-id="28">Manglam</g> World School, Vikas Puri. 

The committee has ordered the schools to refund the fee with nine percent interest rate from the date of receipt. “There are only 298 private schools left for audit and scrutiny,” added Agarwal. 

The next date of hearing in the case is on July 9, 2015.