The petition has been filed by the Barnala-based Private Unaided Schools Association of CBSE and ICSE schools and Jalandhar-based CBSE Affiliated Schools Association through advocate Vibhav Jain.
Days after the Punjab and Haryana High Court allowed schools in Punjab to charge parents 70 per cent of the total school fee, the court will on Wednesday hear a similar petition of CBSE-affiliated schools seeking quashing of the orders allowing only those schools which are providing online education to charge fee.
The petitioners have also challenged the order asking schools to defer the last date for deposit of fee and funds for the academic session 2020-21 to a date at least one month after re-opening of schools.
The petition has been filed by the Barnala-based Private Unaided Schools Association of CBSE and ICSE schools and Jalandhar-based CBSE Affiliated Schools Association through advocate Vibhav Jain.
A number of schools belonging to the associations have received notices from district education officers regarding the complaints pertaining to non-payment of staff, said the petition.
Arguing that the authorities have no legislative power to direct schools to defer fee payment for the ongoing academic session, the school associations have submitted before court that the order passed by Punjab has given leeway to parents to not deposit the fee at all during the lockdown period.
“In such a scenario, even collection of basic tuition fee from students who are attending online classes would not suffice considering the fact that expenses borne by the schools on account of salaries of teaching/non-teaching staff as well as on the infrastructure to hold online classes would be much more than the basic tuition fee collected from students,” reads the petition.
Regarding only allowing schools providing online education to collect fee, the petition states that many of the schools are located in remote areas and are imparting education to students who may not have access to the online platform.
The HC had on May 22, while hearing a petition of schools based in Mohali, ordered that schools in Punjab can charge 70 per cent of the total school fee from parents and also allowed the schools to seek admission fee in two installments.
“Keeping in view the present circumstances, interim direction is being given that the admission fee which is paid one time by the parents, shall be paid in two equal installments in six months and 70 per cent of the total school fee will be charged from the parents of the students and 70 per cent salary will be paid to the teachers during the pendency of this writ petition,” a single bench said in the order.