HC orders UP schools to give 15% rebate in fees paid during pandemic

PRAYAGRAJ: Hearing a slew of public interest petitions (PILs) filed by parents from all over the state seeking regulation of fees in all the schools in Uttar Pradesh, the Allahabad high court has directed that a rebate of 15% be provided in the total school fees charged during the Covid pandemic period, i.e., in the academic session 2020-21.
As per the order of the high court, all the schools across the state will have to calculate 15% of the total fees charged during the year 2020-21 and to adjust the same in the next academic session. As far as the students who have left the schools are concerned, 15% of the said fees will have to be refunded to them.
Disposing the PILs filed by one Adarsh Bhushan and other petitioners, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice JJ Munir, in its decision dated January 6 granted two months' time to all the schools throughout the state to complete the entire process.
The counsel for the petitioners had taken the plea that the fee was a matter of quid pro quo, meaning thereby a favour or advantage granted in return for something.
As no service except online tuition was provided in the schools in the session 2020-21, charging even a single rupee over and above the tuition fee by the schools was nothing but profiteering and commercialization of education.
In support of their contentions, they also cited the recent judgment of the apex court in Indian School, Jodhpur and another v. State of Rajasthan and others (2021), which also held that schools demanding fees without providing any services amounted to profiteering and commercialization of education.