Fee hearing postponed, parents upset

GURGAON: Parents of students of Blue Bells Model School, Sector 4 expressed their dismay, after the additional chief secretary (ACS) of education postponed the October 23 appointment to hear their views on his order, overruling the Fee and Fund Regulatory Committee's decision to bar the school from levying fees in advance against Form VI, to November 3. The parents' indignation is compounded by the fact that the last date for submitting fees is October 31.

The enraged parents said they received a mail from the office of ACS K K Khandelwal on Sunday, announcing he would meet them on November 3.

On July 31, the FFRC ended a four-month feud between the parents and the school authorities by invalidating a hike in fees and other miscellaneous charges announced by the school. But on September 29, Khandelwal issued an order overruling the FFRC decision. The parents are against this order, as they feel the FFRC decision was technical, and the ACS neither took them on board, nor outlined the reasons for his order.

On October 8, a parent's delegation submitted their complaint at a janta durbar presided over by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, and requested him to intervene in the matter.

"Days later, we got a mail from the office of the ACS, telling us he would hear our arguments on October 23," said Mahesh, a parent. "But on Sunday evening, we got another mail telling us the date of hearing has been postponed to November 3."

Mahesh said this was unacceptable as the last date of fee submission was October 31. "It gives the school an escape route," another parent said. "Even if the ACS decides in our favour, the school would have already collected the fees."

Mahesh added they tried to raise the issue with the deputy director of the ACS. "He told us to inform the school that we would pay fees after November 5, but how is that possible? He did not issue this in writing, so we can't show anything to the school authorities," he said. Neither FFRC chairman D Suresh nor ACS K K Khandelwal could be reached for their comments.