The Madras High Court on Monday directed the State government to apprise it by March 11 on the work done so far by the Tamil Nadu Private Schools Fee Determination Committee with respect to fixing of fees for various schools for the academic year 2020-21 and beyond. The court wanted to know whether the committee had been provided with the infrastructure required for carrying out such a mammoth exercise.
Justice B. Pugalendhi directed the Special Government Pleader (School Education) C. Munusamy to get necessary instructions from the School Education Secretary within 10 days. The direction was issued during the hearing of a batch of writ petitions filed by private schools and their associations against a Government Order last year directing them not to indulge in forcible collection of fees.
However, in order to balance the interests of schools, which had to pay salaries to staff, and parents, who suffered pay cuts during the lockdown period, the court permitted the schools to collect 75% of fees in instalments for academic year 2020-21 and await further orders to be passed after the committee determines the fee.
When the cases were listed for hearing again on Monday, senior counsel Rev. Fr. A. Xavier Arulraj and S. Silambanan, representing a few schools, urged the court to permit the schools to collect the rest of the 25% of the fees, too, since the academic year was almost coming to an end. The counsel said the committee had determined the fee for 2020-21 for some schools but it was not able to complete the task for want of infrastructure.
After recording their submission, the judge wanted to know the status of the work done by the committee so far from the State government.
