Over 90 private schools of the city on Monday claimed in the Delhi High Court that they have complied with its order to deposit 75% of the excess fees charged by them.
Another 20-odd schools said they would deposit 75% of the amount within a period of two days to two weeks, as recommended to be refunded to the students by the Justice Anil Dev Singh Committee set up by the court. A Bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Najmi Waziri protected the schools, which claimed they had deposited the money with the HC 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.
Plea withdrawn
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 multiplicity of proceedings,” the Bench said. Delhi government standing counsel Ramesh Singh told the Bench that till September 22, around ₹60 crore were deposited by 61 private schools.
