The government has said it should be made mandatory that schools covered by the Madras High Court order of May 3 should display on their notice boards the case number, fee earlier fixed by the fee determination committee and the revised fee to be collected by them by virtue of the court order.
In a petition seeking certain clarifications in the order, the Deputy Secretary, School Education Department, S. Vedarathinam, said while collecting the fee, schools should issue receipt to the effect that the fee collected was as per the High Court's directions. Further, the fees determined by the committee should be mentioned.
Fifteen per cent over and above the fee collected should be indicated separately.
It should also be stated that the fee so collected was subject to the outcome of the final decision of the fee determination committee.
On May 3, the Madras High Court had set aside the orders of the School Fee Determination Committee, headed by Justice K. Raviraja Pandian, pertaining to nearly 300 writ petitions and remitted the matter back to the panel for fresh consideration.
As the academic year 2012-13 had already stated, as an interim arrangement, the petitioner schools, both minority and non-minority, would be entitled to collect 15 per cent over and above the fee fixed earlier by the committee.
The court had made it clear that the interim arrangement would be applicable only to schools which had filed writ petitions and not to other schools.
“Distorted way”
Mr. Vedarathinam said parents and students were confused in view of the “distorted way,” a section of the media carried the news about the judgment. Hence it was necessary to get clarifications on certain points.
The petitioner said the schools which were not covered by the judgment should collect fee as determined by the committee and issue fee receipt accordingly.
