The Federation of Association of Private Schools in Tamil Nadu (FAPSIT) has filed a writ petition in the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the government to consider waiver of property tax for school buildings for the years 2020 and 2021.
When the matter was listed before Justice Anita Sumanth on Monday, she adjourned the matter to September 2 and asked the petitioner to pursue with the government a representation made by it on May 31 seeking waiver of property tax.
Federation secretary D.C. Elangovan said schools in the State remained closed from March 2020 when the first wave of COVID-19 disrupted normal life. During this period, schools conducted online classes to ensure continuity in education.
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As feared, the second wave made it impossible to reopen schools fully and online classes continued to be in vogue. In the meantime, private school managements had to struggle to settle loans availed for constructing buildings and purchasing buses.
Claiming that only a section of students had paid 75% of the fees, permitted to be collected by the court for online classes, and that the money was hardly enough to pay staff salaries, the federation sought waiver of property tax for school campuses.