Nagpur: After parents moved court against a leading school that handed over a transfer certificate (TC) to their child for failure to pay the fees, the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court issued notices to the school along with central and state governments.While keeping the petition for final disposal, justice Avinash Gharote directed the respondents, including secretaries of union education ministry and state school education department, besides Centre Point School (CPS) Katol Road branch, to reply within two weeks.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) secretary, deputy director of education in the city and Zilla Parishad’s (ZP) primary education officer are other respondents.Petitioners – Deepti and Sandip Agrawal — also the president of Vidarbha Parents Association – prayed for directives to hold the school’s action in issuing TC to their son Sarthak as illegal and violative of provisions of Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, and Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Regulation of Fee) Act, 2011.Through their counsel Ashwin Ingole, the petitioners further demanded an inquiry into allegations against the school for recovering excess fees from all parents and also to impose costs on management for depriving the child of his education.“The contention is that the school issued TC on May 28 thereby discontinuing the petitioners’ son education without they applying for it on the ground that the fees for the session of 2020-21 were pending.
A plea has been taken by their counsel that they are ready and willing to deposit the fees within a month,” justice Gharote said before adjourning the hearing.According to Agrawal, he had earlier filed a PIL in HC against all private CBSE schools for charging excess fees during Covid-19 lockdown period from last year and for discontinuing online classes of students who failed to pay them.The school told the petitioners to deposit the fees by April 23 and their son was asked to appear for the exams on April 24.
Even a notice was issued to them through Google Meet that if they failed, the child’s education would be discontinued.The petitioners lodged a complaint with the deputy director on the grounds that CPS was governed by the Fee Regulation Act and can’t charge exorbitant fees.
Moreover, the school didn’t allow the couple to become a member of their Parents Teachers Association (PTA) and that existing one is ‘bogus’.
They also questioned the school’s move to hold exam of their son when the government had promoted all the students to next class without exams.