New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Friday sought response from the Delhi government on an appeal against a single-judge order purportedly mandating a 15 per cent reduction in tuition fees charged by private unaided schools here.
A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh issued notice on the appeal by 'Action Committee Unaided Recognised Private Schools', which represents over 450 schools, against the single judge order which allowed private unaided schools to collect annual and development charges from students for the period after the lockdown ended in the national capital last year. We thought we have won fully, said senior counsel Shyam Divan for the action committee as he submitted that his challenge was limited to Delhi government misinterpreting and misconstruing the single judge order.
Circular was issued on July 1 to neutralise the orders passed by the single judge and the division bench of this court, said Divan, who urged the court to clarify the scope of the single judge's order. In the July 1 Circular, Delhi govt ordered that the private unaided schools were entitled to collect the annual fee, which constitutes the permissible chargeable heads, in FY-2020-21 after deduction of 15 per cent.
Advocate Santosh Tripathi opposed the appeal and stated that since the circular has already been released, the action committee should file a fresh petition against it instead of moving an appeal.
In its appeal, the action committee has alleged that single judge's order was being used to thrust and coerce upon reduction in tuition fees, which was malafide and illegal. The Executive/DoE (Department of Education) has discovered/invented a novel way to overrule, override and completely circumvent a binding judicial decision, in the garb of interpretation, that in addition to the Annual and Development Charges, a reduction of 15 per cent also be given on tuition fees as well, the appeal filed through advocate Kamal Gupta reads.
It is submitted that the only controversy before the single judge was with regard to the collection of annual and development fees heads and thus in terms of the order, all schools were providing a reduction of 15 per cent on that portion of the fee. It is asserted that there was no submission and adjudication by the single judge on reduction of 15 per cent tuition fees. The matter would be heard next on August 20.