Updated on: Thursday, April 12, 2012
An interim stay of the expulsion by the Madras High Court enabled sixteen students of a school at Tiruvottiyur here, who were expelled after they did not pay the fee demanded by the institution, to attend classes from Wednesday.
Admitting a writ petition by their parents, the court on Tuesday directed the school to receive the tuition fees fixed under the Tamil Nadu Schools (Regulation of Collection of Fees) Act and permit the children to attend classes subject to further orders. In the petition, S. Vinayaga Moorthy of Tiruvottiyur and others stated that their wards are studying in Kavibarathi Vidyalaya School, under the CBSE system.
The final order of the fee fixation committee had been communicated to the school, which collected excess fees under the head ‘technology-based education'. Further, some co-curricular activities were made optional from July 18 last year. Still, the management forced the students to join them by paying additional fees ranging from Rs. 2,250 to Rs. 6,400. Several representations were made to the school asking it to permit the parents to pay the fee fixed by the committee. There was no positive response. Some parents sent the fee by way of cheque/demand draft. But no receipt was issued.
The school had been resorting to “inhuman methods,” subjecting the students to humiliation and mental harassment to extract the excess fees. On March 7, all students were given a form to obtain ‘no due certificate' from various departments.
Mr. Moorthy said that on April 3, he had received a communication from the school — the transfer certificate of his daughter with an endorsement that fees had not been paid and the expulsion order. Other petitioners also received similar TCs and expulsion orders.
Justice Paul Vasanthakumar said that he was passing the order in terms of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act. Section 16 of the Act mandated that the school should not issue compulsory transfer certificate to any student studying up to Standard VIII.