Supreme Court refuses to entertain parents plea on school fees

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday declined to entertain a plea by a group of parents, from different states, seeking directions to the Centre and state governments to direct all private unaided/aided schools not to charge fees for April-July or till the commencement of physical classes.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde noted that the fee issue should have been raised before the state High Courts, "Why has it come to the Supreme Court....... It would be a stroke of genius if you can solve everybody's problems."

The apex court noted that the problems of each state are different "You have filed a plea for the whole country. It is a problem for u as we do not know who would take decision for the whole country (concerning this issue) Problems in each state are different" the bench, also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and R Subhash Reddy, observed.

The PIL filed by petitioners, parents' association in 9 states, also sought directions to the Centre and state governments to direct schools to only charge proportionate fee based on actual expenditure on online classes till the commencement of normal classes. The petitioners contended that the Punjab and Haryana High Court has allowed schools to charge hiked fees.

The Chief Justice said then you should file a plea against that order. The parents also urged the court to issue directions that schools should charge only tuition fees until schools begin to function normally. The bench told the petitioners' counsel that it is not inclined to interfere in the matter at this stage and asked the petitioners to withdraw the petition and approach the High Courts concerned.

The plea argued that since the students may get exposed to hazards associated with online education, there is a need for uniform and safer guidelines across the country in this regard.