AP High Court dismisses GOs on finalising the fees in private schools and colleges

The Andhra Pradesh High Court has quashed previous orders issued by the government on finalisation of fees in schools and colleges. It is a known fact that the state government has done 53, 54 GO in the past by finalizing fees for private unaided schools and junior colleges. East Godavari district private school owners have approached the high court challenging the ordinance. The court, which heard the case on Monday, directed the government to take the proposals from management and give a new notification.

The government on August 24 released 53, 54 GOs, finalizing fees for private schools and junior colleges in the state. However, Dasari Durga Srinivasa Rao, president of the East Godavari Private Schools Association, has challenged these in the past on behalf of a few other educational institutions. The High Court heard that the state government had unilaterally issued the GOs finalizing the fees in private educational institutions, ignoring the field conditions. He recalled that the design of infrastructure in educational institutions was not taken into account before finalizing the fees.

Senior advocates Vedula Venkataramana, B. Adinarayana Rao and P. Veera Reddy had earlier told the court that better management and teaching of educational institutions was not possible with the fees fixed by the government. Arguments have been heard that parents are satisfied and enrolled their children in private educational institutions. However, the High Court, which has heard the case several times, has recently dismissed the GOs.