The state government has proposed the setting up of a high-powered committee and sought permission from the Karnataka High Court (HC) to look into the issue of school fees and other matters of conflict for the academic year 2021-22. The Interlocutory Application (IA) was moved following the petitions filed to challenge the decision of the state to cut the tuition fee by 30 per cent.
According to the IA, the proposed committee headed by a retired High Court judge would be recommendatory in nature and suggest measures to resolve fixation of fees crisis after recording the views of parents, management of educational institutions, and other stakeholders.
It cited the example of the TMA Pai case of 2007 in which the Supreme Court had directed the constitution of state-level committees headed by high court judges to look into the fee fixed by professional colleges. As per a report by Live Law, the state government in its application stated, "The Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Islamic Academy of Education and another.Vs. State of Karnataka and others reported in (2003)6 SCC 697 has directed the State Government in order to give effect to the Judgment in TMA Pai Case, the Hon'ble Court directed each State to set up a Committee headed by retired High Court Judge, decide the fees proposed by the Institutions. The Committee shall decide whether the Institutions are justified in collecting such fee and not profeterring or charging capitation fee. In view of the above decisions rendered by the Hon'ble Supreme Court and Pandemic situation, the State Government proposes to constitute a similar Committee to go into issues relating to the fees for the academic year 2021-22.”
A single bench of Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum posted the next date of hearing to June 29, granting time to the petitioners, associations representing private school managements, to file their objections against the IA.
In January 2021, the Karnataka government had issued a circular asking private schools under all boards to only collect up to 70 per cent of the set fees in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, under the Karnataka Education Act. It also allowed the parents and guardians to pay the fees in installments, if needed. “The schools are not complying with the earlier order to cap fees at 70 per cent and are claiming that to be coercive action,” said Mohammed Shakeel, President, Voice of Parents–Karnataka Association, a collective for aggrieved parents.
School management of ICSE and CBSE schools in 2019, had gone to the HC challenging their inclusion under the ambit of the Act. As part of the case, the state government gave an undertaking to the HC that it will not take any coercive action against the schools. “In context to this, the committee, if constituted, is most likely to be at a stalemate considering that any action will be termed ‘coercive.’ It is an ad-hoc committee just for this issue; however, we demand a permanent fee-regulatory committee which will be a mechanism for reasonable regulations. Additionally, unless there is a solution or an order from the court addressing the deadlock of the pre-existing litigation, this issue will go on in loops,” he told TNM.