AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat High Court on Wednesday held that the law enacted by the state government to regulate fees charged by private schools in the state is constitutionally valid. It rejected dozens of petitions filed by private schools challenging the law.
The court has ordered all schools to follow the Gujarat Self Financed Schools (Regulation of Fees) Act, 2017, which will be implemented from 2018.
Rejecting around 40 petitions opposing it, a division bench of Chief Justice R. Subhash Reddy and Justice V.M. Pancholi upheld the law and ruled that the state legislature is competent and has the authority to form laws for state boards, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE).
The court has also rejected the contention of the CBSE and minority schools, which had submitted that the state cannot regulate them with regard to fees.
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama welcomed the ruling and noted that the government’s intention was to regulate the high fees being charged by private schools in the state.
“Our government is committed to ensuring that the private schools don’t overcharge parents,” Mr. Rupani told reporters.
The Gujarat Self Financed Schools (Regulation of Fees) Act came into force in April this year after Governor O.P. Kohli gave his assent to the Bill on April 12, 2017.
The Bill was introduced by the state government in the last budget session with the aim of reining in private schools that charged “exorbitant fees” in the absence of a clear law.
The fee structure prescribed in the law for primary, secondary and higher secondary school is ₹15,000, ₹25,000 and ₹27,000 per year, respectively.
However, if the schools want to charge more, they will have to approach the state government-appointed fee regulation committee in their respective regions to get a prior approval. The committee will decide requests on a case to case basis after reviewing the application, the schools’ infrastructure, costs and other aspects.
The law provides for the establishment of four such committees in four zones, having their headquarters at Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Rajkot.
The managements of various private, minority, CBSE and ICSE schools had approached the court against the law, saying it was not in accordance with the Constitution and should be scrapped.
