HSPA threatens to drag govt to court

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad School Parents Association (HSPA) on Tuesday alleged that the State government has been wilfully ignoring the directions of the State High Court in regard to private schools collecting "excess fees."

The Association threatened to initiate contempt of court proceedings against the State government if corrective steps were not taken.

In a letter to Education Secretary B Janardhan Reddy, the HSPA said the Telangana High Court had given directions to the State government, but it failed to implement the same.

HSPA joint secretary K Venkata Sainath demanded urgent corrective action by the government. He said the State government had stopped the schools from increasing the fees for the academic year 2018-19 through a circular issued on January 4, 2018.

However, the High Court, however, filed by the Schools' Association had allowed the schools to increase the fees strictly subject to two conditions.

The court directed the private school managements to deposit the increased fees, if any, in a separate bank account and that amount so deposited, in the separate bank account, should not be withdrawn, until further orders.

However, in complete disregard to the above orders and conditions set by the Court, the schools had not only continued to increase the fees but also had not deposited the same in separate bank accounts, he said.

The HSPA said that if it would not get a satisfactory response and assurance, the association would not hesitate to go to court again, he said.