The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday asked the State government to ensure that the District Level Education Regulating Authority (DLERA), headed by the Deputy Commissioners of the respective districts, to ensure that written or oral complaints or those initiated suo motu by authorities are disposed of within a specific time period.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Pradeep Singh Yerur passed the order during the hearing of a PIL petition filed by N.P. Amruthesh, city-based advocate, in 2016. Earlier, a government counsel submitted a notification issued on July 24, 2019, making it mandatory for all private unaided schools to upload on the website of the Department of Primary and Secondary Education by December 31 the nature of fees to be collected during the ensuing year along with particulars like details of teaching staff, result of public exams etc. However, the petitioner claimed that the July 24, 2019, notification was silent about uploading information on charges to be collected for applications and brochures while alleging that private schools were collecting an exorbitant amount.
Following this, the Bench said that as the Karnataka Educational Institutions (Classification, Regulation and Prescription of Curricula) Rules, 1995, prescribes upper ceiling for fees that can be charged for application and brochure, the notification can be modified asking schools to upload the fees to be charged for application and brochure.
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On the petitioner’s grievance that DLERAs were not taking action on complaints regarding to violation of fee structures, the Bench said the government can issue direction to DLERAs to dispose of the complaints within a specific period. It also pointed that DLERAs have the power to act on oral complaints and initiate action suo motu against educational institutions on fees and other provisions of the Karnataka Education Act and the Rules.