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2022 DIGILAW 515 (CAL)

Rajib Chakraborty v. State Of West Bengal

2022-04-06

I.P.MUKERJI, MOUSHUMI BHATTACHARYA

body2022
ORDER : 1. Under extraordinary circumstances this bench had to be reconstituted before the returnable date of the applications. 2. The situation is this. It is alleged by a section of parents/students mostly of G.D. Birla Centre for Education, Mahadevi Birla Sishu Vihar, Adamas International School and some other schools that very arbitrarily the school authorities are not granting promotion to students, withholding their report cards and not allowing them to join the higher class in the new session on the pretext that school fees have not been paid. The schools are charging a much larger amount than that directed to be charged by our interim orders. 3. We have heard Mr. Sabyasachi Chowdhury and Mr. Aniruddha Mitra for Ashoka Hall Group of Schools and Adamas International School respectively. Both learned counsel denied the allegations. 4. In fact they submitted that fee was sought to be paid by a significant number of guardians/students in a most haphazard manner, much lower than the fees required to be paid as per our order. This payment was sought to be justified by them by saying that it was in terms of our order. 5. This is the dispute between the school authorities and the guardians/students. 6. After hearing learned counsel for the parties and some parents and students in person, we pass the following order: (a) None of the 145 schools/teaching institutions shall deny promotion to any student to the next session or withhold their report card till further orders. (b) All students shall be allowed to join the higher class in the new session and shall be provided the normal educational facilities. (c) The arrangement under which the students shall pay fees and other charges to the schools/educational institutions for the new session shall be entirely between the schools/teaching institutions and the students/guardians and shall not be affected by this order or any previous order. (d) As far as the payment of school fees during the operation of our interim order is concerned, the payment made by each students/guardians shall be accompanied by a statement showing the calculation for such payment. (e) As a matter of guidance to the parents/students the fee last paid and accepted by the schools/teaching institutions should be indicative of how much is payable for a particular month preceding the start of the new session. (e) As a matter of guidance to the parents/students the fee last paid and accepted by the schools/teaching institutions should be indicative of how much is payable for a particular month preceding the start of the new session. (f) The learned Registrar General of this court is to immediately forward our order dated 25th March, 2022 to the Joint Special Officers. (g) So that the schools/teaching institutions do not suffer any deficiency in fund, we direct the Joint Special Officers to go into the above dispute regarding fee liability and to come to a decision in the matter. (h) The Joint Special Officers will also look into the complaint of arbitrary increase in school fees during the Covid-19 pandemic period with a view to circumvent the order of this court and take a decision in the matter with regard to fee actually payable by those guardians/students. (i) Each of the guardians/students shall make payment of the fee determined as payable by the Joint Special Officers to the schools/teaching institutions within two weeks of such determination without prejudice to his rights and contentions in these applications. (j) The Joint Special Officers shall also tabulate in their report the names of the students who have not made any payment at all during the operation of our interim orders. 7. This order is to be treated as a further interim order in the writ applications which as per our earlier direction shall appear in the list on 10th June, 2022.