File FIR against two Apeejay School branches: Directorate of education

NEW DELHI: The education department has written to Delhi Police asking it to register an FIR against two branches of Apeejay School for allegedly forging emails stating the directorate of education (DoE) had permitted them to increase fees.
The schools, however, said they had been working with DoE to dispel this “false and malicious allegation” and had “repeatedly demanded an urgent independent investigation”.
The letter was submitted to the station house officers of Saket and Malviya Nagar police stations on Saturday against the Saket and Sheikh Sarai branches, respectively.
On May 4, the department sealed both premises for alleged violation of the fee hike order. Enforcing the Disaster Management Act (DMA) and the Delhi School Education Rules, the department had ordered the action, including filing of an FIR. On May 5, following a plea by the school authorities, Delhi high court asked the department to de-seal the premises and give both branches a hearing.
According to the department letter, though the schools’ fee-hike proposals for 2017-18 was rejected and the same for 2019-20 are still under consideration, the branches “are unauthorisedly charging the increased amount of tuition and other kind of fees, unduly pressurising the parents and adopting coercive practices”. No proposal was submitted for 2018-19, it added.
“Thus use of fake emails to unauthorisedly increase the fee is an offence under relevant provisions of IPC and DP Act,” DoE alleged in the letter.
The department also claimed that nobody on the schools’ behalf appeared for a meeting scheduled with the director of education on December 18, 2019. “The school being very old and reputed is expected to know it well that such proposals for increased of fees are not granted on email, thus there is a wilful foul play by way of cheating, forgery and fraud besides extortion of unauthorisedly claiming arrears and increased fees from parents,” the letter stated.
In a statement, the schools said, “We are actively working with DoE to dispel these false and malicious allegations and have repeatedly demanded an urgent independent investigation, but till date DoE has not responded.”
Quashing “previous similar action” by DoE, the high court has directed it to follow a proper process, the school authorities pointed out. “We have complete faith in the law and shall also be taking all legal action against miscreants who threaten the future of our students and tarnish the good name of our parents. With 50+ years of excellence, our values prevent us from bowing down to extortion and corruption at any level,” it added.
The school also wrote to DoE on Saturday asking it to appoint a mutually “agreed independent computer forensic professional or agency to review, verify, examine the veracity and certify the origin of the key approvals”.