NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay a Delhi high court order that allows private unaided schools to collect annual charges and development fees even during the period when campuses are closed due to the pandemic.
Paving the way for the schools to collect these charges, a bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and Aniruddha Bose dismissed an appeal filed by the directorate of education against the HC order that had quashed the government notification against the schools.
The SC noted the appeal was pending before the HC and asked the department to raise its grievances before that bench. TNN
School fee: SC sends ball back in HC’s court
The department had approached the Supreme Court after a division bench of the Delhi high court had refused to stay the operation of the single bench order.
“Considering the fact that the special leave petition(s) are directed against an interlocutory order, we decline to interfere and more particularly because the division bench of the Delhi high court vide order dated June 7 had made it clear that the intra-court appeal may proceed for hearing before the roster bench on 12th July. The special leave petitions are dismissed,” the bench observed.
“All contentions available to the parties can be raised before the division bench of the high court in the pending appeal. The dismissal of the special leave petition(s) is not an expression of opinion on the correctness of the view expressed by the high court or the contentions raised before us by the parties,” the bench said while making it clear the court was not expressing any opinion on merit of the case.
Senior Advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for the department, tried to convince the bench that the decision taken by the government was in public interest as many parents are facing financial crisis. He said the government had not stopped schools from collecting tuition fee and only annual charges and development fees were not allowed to be collected from students as schools are closed since March last year. But the court refused to allow the plea.