The Madras High Court on Wednesday initiated suo motu contempt of court proceedings against eight private schools across the State for having violated its July 17 order on collection of fees in instalments due to the difficulties faced by the parents during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh directed the High Court Registry to issue notices to PSBB Millennium School in Coimbatore and Sri Shankara Vidya Kendriya Matriculation Higher Secondary School as well as Hussain Memorial Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Tiruvallur district.
Notices, returnable by October 14, were also ordered to P.S. Chidambara Nadar Senior Secondary School, Shatriya Vidyasala Matriculation Higher Secondary School and S.H.N.V. Matriculation Higher Secondary School, all in Virudhunagar district. The other two schools under the scanner are Muslim Higher Secondary School and Don Bosco Matriculation Higher Secondary School, both in Ramanathapuram district. All of them were directed to offer their explanation for having violated the order.
The direction was issued after K. Jeyalalitha, Deputy Secretary, School Education Department, filed a report stating that initially show-cause notices were issued to 23 schools. All the schools submitted their replies, and the charge of violating the court order was established against four of them. Subsequently, the Department created exclusive e-mail IDs for filing complaints in every district. Though 116 complaints were received against schools through these e-mail IDs, only 78 were related to violation of the court order.
An inquiry into those complaints led to the establishment of the charge against a few more schools. Five schools were yet to submit their replies to the show-cause notices, the court was told. This submission forced the judge to initiate contempt proceedings against the erring institutions.
On July 17, Justice Venkatesh directed all schools and colleges in the State to collect only 40% of the fees in the first instalment and another 25% immediately after the government permits the institutions to reopen after the threat of COVID-19 subsides. However, even after the order was passed, there were complaints of some schools demanding payment of 100% fees. Taking a serious note of the complaint, the judge directed the School Education Department to inquire into the issue and submit a report.
Another case
While passing interim orders on another writ petition filed by SBOA School and Junior College Parents Association in Chennai to restrain the school management from enhancing the fees this year, the judge insisted upon cracking down on CBSE schools too. He directed the Regional Director of the CBSE to create an exclusive e-mail ID for filing complaints about violation of the court order, conduct an inquiry into those complaints and file a detailed report by October 14.