Kerala HC seeks explanation from CBSE schools on fee collection

It also asks what concessions can be offered to students

The Kerala High Court on Thursday directed the CBSE school managements’ association to file a statement explaining under what heads they are allowing their member schools to charge fees for the 2020-2021 academic year.

Justice Devan Ramachandran also asked the association to state the concessions that they can offer to students, in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Plea by schools

The directives were passed on a petition filed by various school managements alleging that the parents of the students were unfairly taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic and refusing to pay the fees for the 2020-2021 academic year.

The petitioners sought a directive to the State Police Chief to ensure that no disruption was caused to the functioning of their School by parents or any others. They contended that that they were entitled to charge the same fee which they had charged for the year 2019-2020.

Access to facilities

The court noted that the managements had not explained how they could collect such fees, when the students were denied many physical facilities on account of the online classes.

The court directed the CBSE to file the statement within 10 days.