Committee recommends refund of fee unjustly hiked by 58 schools

Updated on: Saturday, March 16, 2013

A Delhi high court-appointed panel has found 58 city schools to have "unjustly" raised their fee and has recommended that these schools return the "excess amount" to parents at 9% interest.

The Justice Anil Dev Singh committee, which made the recommendation, has also called for a special inspection by the Directorate of Education against 11 of these schools as their financial records "didn't inspire any confidence". DoE told to inspect 27 city schools

Submitting its second interim report in court, the committee said in 47 of the 58 schools, the fee hiked since 2009 was wholly or partially unjustified. That is because either these schools had sufficient funds to meet the burden of increased staff salaries following the 6th pay commission recommendations or the fee hike was higher than what was required to pay increased salaries.

The three-member panel headed by former Rajasthan High Court Chief Justice Anil Dev Singh said, "The committee has recommended refund of fee unjustly hiked by 58 schools. Among these are 11 schools, where the committee, besides recommending the refund, has also recommended special inspection to be carried out by the Directorate of Education."

The panel found 27 other schools had not submitted relevant records and wants DoE to inspect them again.

The committee said it had examined fee hikes by 148 schools. "In the case of 63 schools, the committee has not recommended any intervention as the schools were found to have either not hiked the fee in pursuance of the order dated February 11, 2009 issued by the DoE or the fee hiked was found to be within...tolerance limit of 10% or the fee hike was found to be justified."

The report, submitted before a bench of Justices B D Ahmed and Siddharth Mridul, said a number of schools were found to have charged development fee out of line with the laid criteria. It pointed out that while schools were quick to levy development fee as permitted by Supreme Court in 2004, they had turned a blind eye to conditions laid down by the court, such as putting this money in separate development fund accounts. The panel was shocked to find that in some schools, the pay hike to teacher was taken back in the name of development of the school.

In its first report submitted on August 23 last year, the panel had examined the fee hikes in 200 schools and then too recommended that 64 schools be asked to refund the "excess fees" with 9% interest. The reports followed an earlier order of the court which is hearing a PIL of NGO Social Jurist, that has accused private schools of unjustly raising fees.

The schools which will have to refund fee as per the panel's latest recommendations are Lovely Buds Public School, Johripur; Diamond Public School, Yamuna Vihar; Sun Smile Public School, Aman Vihar; Vijay Bharati Public School, Badarpur; Glory Public School, Sarita Vihar; Nav Jeevan Adarsh Public School, Brij Puri; B A V Public School, Ghonda; R M Convent School, Palam; Prakash Model School, Mahavir Enclave; Dayanand Model Sec School, Vivek Vihar; Goodley Public School, Shalimar Bagh; M N Convent Sec School, Saroop Nagar; Jai Mann Public School, Khera Khurd; Jain Bharti Marigawati Vidyalaya, G T Karnal Road; Modern Era Convent, Janak Puri; Delhi Public School, R K Puram; Loreto Convent School, Delhi Cantt; Mount St Mary's School, Delhi Cantt; Red Roses Public School, Saket; Bhai Joga Singh Public School, Karol Bagh; Maharaja Agarsen Model School, CD Block Pitam Pura; Summer Fields School, Kailash Colony; Tagore Modern Public School, Shalimar Bagh, Tagore Modern Public School, Motia Khan; Gyandeep Vidya Bhawan Sr Sec School, Yamuna Vihar; Holy Heart Public School, Mahavir Enclave; Swati Modern Public Sec School, Mundka; Kamal Convent Public School, Vikas Puri; Shiv Memorial Public School, East Gokalpuri; Mahavira International School, Trinagar; St James School, Yamuna Vihar; Vivekananda Convent School, Shahdara; Nalanda Public School, Shahdara; R N Public School, Rani Bagh; Career Public School, Jheel Kuranja; Tagore Public School, Jheel Kuranja; Luxmi Modern Public School, Karawal Nagar; Goodwill Public School, Najafgarh; Raghunath Bal Mandir School, Najafgarh; Holy Child Model Sec School, Najafgarh; Sandhya Sr Sec Public School, Chauhan Bangar; St Marks Sr Sec Public School, Harsh Vihar; Aravali Public School, Naraina; Purnima Model School, Sagarpur (W); St B S Public School, Shiv Ram Park, Nangloi; Doon Public School, Janakpuri and National Public School, Jhilmil Colony.

The 11 schools that the panel wants be subjected to an inspection by DoE, apart from being asked to return excess fee, are B M Bharti Model School, Majri; New Nalanda Public School, Badarpur; Naveen Dabar Sec Public School, Daulatpur: Sri Guru Harkrishan Model School, Tagore Garden; U D Public School, Shivaji Park, Shahdara; S M Public School, East Krishna Nagar; Kennedy Public School, Raj Nagar II, Palam; Bholi Ram Public School, Najafgarh; Paradise Public School, Uttam Nagar; Jainmati Jain Public School, Pahari Dhiraj and Rose Valley Public School, Nangloi.

Committee recommends refund of fee unjustly hiked by 58 schools

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