Private school fee issue in SC, notices issued
By: Muzamil Bhat CK
Srinagar
As the case of fee in the private schools of Jammu and Kashmir has finally reached the Supreme Court the top court has issued notice to the Jammu Kashmir Government and the Committee formed for fixation and regulation of fee of private schools known as Fee and Fund Regulatory Committee (FFRC).
The notices were issued as the top court was hearing a writ petition filed by National Independent Schools Alliance (NISA), a federation of private schools.
According to the KNT report on this issue the court of Justice L Nageswara Rao and Justice Aniruddha Bose issued notices while hearing a writ petition in which NISA has challenged the notice issued on January 19, 2021, by said Committee to 442 private schools operating in Jammu and Kashmir.
In the writ petition it has been claimed that the committee has no power to determine the school fees in private schools that doesn’t enjoy government patronage.
The Fee Regulatory Committee had directed private schools to file past two years account records for the purpose of fixation of school fees in their schools.
The private schools from Kashmir Valley have not obliged to the directions so far citing various reasons.
Advocate Kapil Sibal that represented NISA in the court said that the Fee Fixation Committee has no mandate to seek accounts and records from those private schools which do not get government aid.
The Supreme Court after hearing the arguments issued notice to Jammu and Kashmir Government and the Fee Fixation Committee asking them to clear their stand.
Pertinently, majority of the private schools in Kashmir Valley are aided by the government. Recently, a couple of schools were deprived of facilities being provided by the Board of School Education after these schools were found ‘harassing’ parents and not complying with the government orders.
With inputs from KNT
