Madras HC Issues Notices On Plea Seeking Govt To Take Over Fee Collection In Pvt Schools/ Colleges [Read Order]

A Division Bench comprising Justices MM Sundresh and R. Hemalatha has issued notice to the Respondents, returnable within four weeks. The matter is now listed for hearing on September 28.

The petition has been filed by social activist KM Karthik, through his Advocate Abhishek Yadav, stating that there is no proper mechanism to cross verify the college earnings through fees, and expenditure in salaries.

He has highlighted the plight of underpaid teachers and overburdened parents, whereas the Schools are enjoying over 50% profits.

"The non-prevalence of linkage and inspection mechanisms between fee (& earnings through other billed & unbilled collections) and expenditure (as salaries and others) leave out tremendous gaps. It is most respectfully submitted that a huge profit margin of more than 50% goes to the hands of the trustees of private schools/ colleges," the Petitioner has submitted.

He pointed out:

• There is no legislation which specifies any salary structure for teaching faculty at private/ unaided schools and teachers are left at the mercy of the private school managements for their salary;
• Fee fixation committees for private schools/ colleges are inaccessible to parents and common people. The fixation committee depend on private schools/ colleges, and the committee members own logics to arrive at a fee structure.

The Petitioner has therefore prayed that in the financially distressing times of pandemic, collection of student fee at private schools and colleges should be done by the state government treasuries, monitored by the Income Tax Offices.

He has urged that collection of fees by schools via cash counters/ by hand/ online should be stopped until these institutions restore to normalcy.

"Taking over of state government treasuries will give immense amount of confidence to the teachers of private colleges thereby motivating them to teach the students with utmost interest. It is further stated that the suggested monitoring and surveillance system will improve the quality of the education of the State which is a fundamental right granted under Article 21A of the Constitution of India," the plea states.

The Petitioner has also submitted that the Income Tax department may conduct a detailed audit on private schools & colleges so as to reduce their fees structure to the maximum extent possible.

Click Here To Download Order

Read Order