HC rules in favour of parents, puts a stay on Vidyashram’s hiked fees

The Rajasthan High Court on Tuesday put a stay on the hike in fee effected by the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Vidyashram School in Jaipur. The order has been passed in favour of the petitioners — a group of 10 parents.

The other parents will have to move HC to seek similar breather.

“The high court ordered that the parents who had filed the writ petition will not have to pay the hiked fees. This is a step in the positive direction and now other parents, whose wards study at Vidyashram School, are also planning to file a writ petition in the court,” Raghunandan Sharma, lawyer representing the petitioner parents, said.

This stay order is for the branch of the school located at K M Munshi Marg. A similar order had been issued by the court last week in favour of the parents whose wards are enrolled at the school’s Pratap Nagar branch.

Last week, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had also intervened into the matter and directed the Rajasthan chief secretary to take action in the matter. The PMO action had come on a letter written by an affected parent.

The Directorate of Secondary Education had earlier cancelled the No Objection Certificate (NOC) of the school after the department found that the school fee hike was done in violation of The Rajasthan Schools (Fee Regulation) Act, 2016.

However, on May 1, hearing a petition filed by the school, the high court had ordered that the government cannot take any coercive action against the school.

The school has increased the fee by up to 40 per cent and has asked the parents to deposit the same by May 9.

Parents across the city have been protesting against the fee hike by private schools since the beginning of this academic session in April.