Fee issue should not be made a legal issue; settle it amicably with parents: Bombay High Court to private schools

The Bombay High Court on Thursday told private schools in Maharashtra to try and settle the issue of non-payment of fees by students in an amicable manner with the parents of students instead of disallowing students from attending classes. (Atul Bhatkhalkar & Ors. v. State of Maharashtra & Ors.).The comments came from a Bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking direction to the schools to collect only 50 percent of the annual fees..The Court allowed two intervention applications filed by Unaided Schools Forum and Maharashtra English Schools Trustees Association to intervene in the PIL and directed them to approach the non-payment of fees issue differently in order to avoid compelling parents to approach courts. "Mitigate the issue in some manner. Fee issue is not something that should be turned into a legal issue. This can be amicably settled and worked out. The management can talk face to face with the parents and resolve" Justice Kulkarni suggested to the private schools. .The Court was informed by the State government that Divisional Fees Regulatory Committees had been set up recently in Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Nashik districts.These Committees had been constituted to adjudicate disputes between school management and parent-teachers association regarding fees to be charged, Government Pleader Geeta Shastri told the Court. .Justice Kulkarni asked the schools to approach the committees raising their grievances, instead of debarring students from class. "We don't want the students to litigate.. Then parents have to leave everything and focus on the litigation. This is not a happy situation.. Now with the pandemic the approach has to be different," he said. .The petitioners, which include Member of Legislative Assembly Atul Dattatray Bhatkhalkar and Mumbai lawyer Siddharth Sharma submitted that the fees charged by the schools for the year 2020-21 remained as was normally charged and did not change despite the changing factors like the COVID pandemic.Senior Advocate Birendra Saraf for the petitioners claimed that the management of schools should not be allowed to charge fees for activities and facilities which could not be availed by students due to the circumstances beyond their control during the pandemic..The petitioners submitted that the High Court had clarified through its order of March 3, 2021 that no student would be debarred from attending classes or examinations on account of non-payment of the “increased component of fees” nor will their reports be withheld.However, since the schools failed to comply with the directions against debarring students and withholding results, the petitioners were compelled to approach the High Court..Appearing for the Unaided Schools Forum, Senior Advocate JP Sen apprised the court that schools were now granting concessions to parents who were not in a position to pay fees due to financial constraints that may have arisen due to the pandemic..Directing the intervenors to file their replies, the Court posted the case for further hearing on July 16, 2021.