Indicting as many as 58 private schools in the Capital for charging excess tuition fees in 2009, the Delhi High Court-appointed Justice Anil Dev Singh Committee has recommended refund of the ‘unjustly hiked’ extra amounts to the parents.
The Committee has also recommended that the unjustified or unauthorised fees charged by these schools be refunded along with 9 per cent interest per annum as mandated by the High Court.
Submitting its second interim report to a Division Bench of Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Siddharth Mridul on Friday, the Committee described the fee charged by these schools as ‘unjustly hiked.’
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Of the 58 indicted schools, the Committee recommended special inspection of the accounts of 11 of them by the Directorate of Education of the Delhi Government. These schools have also not implemented the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations, the Committee stated.
At the same time, the financials of these schools did not inspire any confidence for a variety of reasons, the Committee added.
In respect of 47 schools, the Committee found that the fee hike effected by them in pursuance of the order issued by the Directorate of Education on February 2009 was either wholly or partially unjustified as these schools either had sufficient funds at their disposal to take care of the burden imposed by the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations or the fee hike was more than what was required to fully absorb the pay hike.
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The Committee further said that a number of schools had charged the development fee not in accordance with the criteria laid down by the Duggal Committee Report which was upheld by the Supreme Court.
While the schools were quick to charge the development fee as permitted by the Supreme Court, they turned a blind eye to the conditions of capitalisation of such fee and setting apart the funds in a separate fund and depreciation reserve fund accounts, the Committee said. In respect of 27 schools, the Committee has not been able to take a categorical view.