Excess fee refund: HC refrains from staying govt action

DoE had stated that erring schools will be derecognised or its management will be taken over by the govt

The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to stay the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s proposed action against a private school for not refunding excess fee allegedly charged by it on the pretext of implementing the 6th Pay Commission.

A Bench of Justices Sunil Gaur and C. Hari Shankar issued notice to the AAP government’s Directorate of Education (DoE) seeking its response on the school’s plea challenging the department’s May 29 notice to the institution to refund the excess fees.

The private school is one of 531 institutions that, as per the HC-appointed Justice Anil Dev Singh committee, had charged excess fee from parents. The panel had recommended that the schools should refund the fee with 9% interest.

May 29 notice

In its May 29 notice, sent to several defaulting schools, the DoE had said that failure to refund the excess fee could lead to derecognition or taking over of its management by the department as per the Delhi School Education Act and Rules of 1973.

The school contended that it had made several representations to the DoE and the panel seeking review of its recommendation, but till date no decision has been taken. The lawyer for the school sought stay of the notice saying its representation is yet to be decided.

In response to this, additional standing counsel of the Delhi government, Santosh Kumar Tripathi, said that neither the DoE nor the panel itself can review its recommendation and the school ought to have come to court much earlier.