Calcutta HC: Schools must let kids attend classes normally – Times of India

KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday asked G D Birla Centre for Education to withdraw its April 9 notice that allowed only those students, who had paid all their fees, to attend classes. The HC said all schools should let students attend classes normally.
All fee-related disputes till the matter remains sub judice should be referred to the HC-appointed joint special officers, said the court, asking special officers to file their report on the issue by June 6.
G D Birla Centre for Education, Ashok Hall and Mahadevi Birla Sishu Vihar were closed on April 7 over protests by a section of parents. On April 9, the schools reopened, saying only those students who had cleared all their dues would be allowed to attend classes. The protesting parents then moved the HC.
The high court division bench of Justice I P Mukerji and Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya on Tuesday also said there should be “no breach of peace or breakdown of law and order on the or adjoining the school premises”. The HC said if the school or parents were apprehensive about such a situation, they should inform the special officers. The officers will, in turn, inform the police about it and the cops will ensure that there is “no breach of peace in the school area”.
The HC reiterated its earlier orders, which had stated that in fee disputes cases, 50% of either the school’s demand or the amount cited by the parents, whichever was higher, must be paid by March 15. The special officers would examine the claims and counter claims and arrive at a decision and the parents must pay the amount within two weeks of that, the court stated.
A school official said, “We will abide by all directions of the Calcutta High Court.”
The HC said that G D Birla Centre for Education “ought not to have issued the notice” as it meant that “students who had disputed the dues of the school would not be allowed to join classes”. The parents had told the court that several students were not allowed to join classes on the grounds that their fees remained unpaid. The school told the HC that taking shelter behind the Calcutta High Court’s interim orders, some parents were paying “insignificant amounts as fees, much lower than what they paid in the last academic session, insisting that their wards be allowed to attend school”.
The HC had earlier given a 20% waiver on school fees during the time offline classes were suspended for the pandemic. The HC said its orders should be displayed on school notice boards.
The Calcutta High Court said till this was being done, none of the 145 educational institutions, which were part of the HC school fee hearings, “shall deny promotion to any student to the next sessions or withhold their report card till further orders”. The HC also said, “All students shall be allowed to join the higher class in the new sessions and shall be provided the normal educational facilities.”