Private schools fee panel hears appeals

Updated on: Tuesday, April 19, 2011

The Private Schools Fee Determination Committee, headed by Justice K. Raviraja Pandian, heard the appeals of a group of schools in Chennai and neighbouring Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts here on Monday.

As part of the process of hearing appeals from schools that had sought revision in the fee stipulated for them, members of the committee met heads of select schools, giving them a chance to present their case for a higher fee.

N. Vijayan, General Secretary, Federation of Matriculation Schools' Associations in Tamil Nadu, who was among those who went for the hearing on Monday, said the committee headed by Justice K. Raviraja Pandian asked for more details pertaining to the expenses incurred by the schools.

“We hope that the revised fee structure is released by the end of this month or early next month.”

Sources in the Fee Determination Committee said that the exercise was likely to be completed in about a fortnight.

However, there are those such as Siddhartha Jagannathan, joint secretary, Madurai Correspondents' Forum, who have been sceptical of the procedures adopted by the committee to determine the fee to be collected right from the beginning. He felt that even during the hearing, the exercise was rather hurried.

“To start with, we are not told why exactly our fee is considered higher than it ought to be. How can we defend our case for a higher fee if we do not know the reason it is considered high? We only get a chance to say what we think is the right fee during the hearing.”

Several parents' associations across the State have been protesting, charging schools with collecting fees in excess of the amounts prescribed by the government.

Legal issues

According to State government sources, until the time that the Private Schools Fee Determination Committee headed by Justice K. Raviraja Pandian comes out with its fee structure for schools that appealed for a revision, the amounts stipulated by the committee on May 7, 2010, when K. Govindarajan headed it, will hold good.

After a single judge of the Madras High Court stayed operation of the fee structure for private unaided schools fixed by the Justice Govindarajan committee, the Federation of Associations of Private Schools in Tamil Nadu and Federation of Associations of Matriculation Higher Secondary Schools in Tamil Nadu went on appeal and later, to the Supreme Court.

However, according to V.P. Sengottuvel, counsel for the two federations, the Supreme Court, which on May 12, 2010 upheld the validity of the Tamil Nadu Schools (Regulation of Collection of Fee) Act of 2009, in a later order dated December 16, 2010, requested the High Court to dispose of the main writ petitions by a division bench as early as possible, not later than April 30, 2011. “We expect the High Court to list it for hearing soon.”

The government's side, in response, said the petition would be listed for hearing only on the request of the writ petitioners.

There is a possibility that the Committee headed by Justice K. Raviraja Pandian, which is about to complete its process of hearing school managements' appeals, would release its revised fee structure before April 30, and then the hearing would not be required.

Private schools fee panel hears appeals

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