The First Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday said it would hear on October 4 the appeal of the State government seeking to set aside the order of the Single Judge staying the operation of the recommendations of Justice Govindarajan Committee, appointed to fix the fee structure in private schools.
The appeal by the government and Fee Determination Committee argued that the very purpose of the Tamil Nadu Schools (Regulation and Collection of Fee) Act 2009, had been nullified by the stay granted by the Single Judge on September 14.
“The stay has virtually resulted in staying the implementation of the act, the validity of which has been upheld by the Apex Court,” the government added.
While filing the appeal, Additional Advocate General P. Wilson told the Bench comprising Chief Justice M. Yusuf Eqbal and T.S.Sivagnanam that the private schools had taken advantage of the order of the Single Judge and were collecting exorbitant fees.
“The order has also crippled the functioning of Justice Govindarajan Committee,” he said and wanted immediate hearing of the matter.
According to the government, the Single Judge had lost sight of the fact that the interests of the parents and students had to be safeguarded and had proceeded to view the Act only from the point of view of the aided schools. The government further argued that the Singe Judge had not considered the fact that the Act was brought to prevent the exorbitant charging of fees by private schools and to protect the interests of the students.
As regards the remarks of the Single Judge that fixation of fee could not have been done in a short period of one month without any factual finding, the State government clarified that 12 auditors were appointed to verify the accounts submitted by various schools.
The fee was fixed for each school based on the materials furnished by the schools in the questionnaire which was circulated to the schools. “Therefore, the findings of the Single Judge are only based on surmises and conjectures without any factual foundation for the same,” the government further said.
The Single Judge had not considered the fact that since the student community and parents had not represented adequately before the court, sufficient safeguard ought to have been provided by way of adequate protections.
Stating that the order of the Single Judge had created unrest among students and parents and led to chaos and confusion in payment of fees, the government said such a situation was dangerous if allowed to continue. “Hence the order has to be set aside,” the government said.
