Kejriwal warns private schools, says refund extra fees or we take over

The Delhi government has given two weeks to private schools in the national capital to comply with orders of the Delhi High Court to refund excess fee charged from parents.

Image representational/PTI

New Delhi: In a stern warning, the Delhi government has given two weeks to private schools in the national capital to comply with orders of the Delhi High Court to refund excess fee charged from parents. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and education minister Manish Sisodia, on Friday, said the government had sent out notices to 449 schools to comply with the recommendations as under the Anil Dev Singh Committee.

“We are aware of the tremendous contribution made by these schools in providing quality education in Delhi. But, we can’t ignore the recommendations or the Delhi HC order. We’d be forced to take over the defaulting schools if they don’t pay the excess fee in two weeks’ time,” said Sisodia. Adding that the school authorities were responsible citizens and were teaching students the same, Kejriwal said the schools must make sure that the government is not forced to take over and pay up in due time.

On March 30, the High Court had said that it was not correct to presume all private unaided schools in the city are making profits since there are cases before it over the non-payment of sixth pay commission dues to their employees. The school group contended that if it does not intimate the fee schedule, then the schools will not be able to hike the fees mid-session without prior approval of the DoE which is unlikely to agree to any increase. The group suggested placing before the court two fee schedules, one of which will include the recommendations of the seventh pay commission so that if the DoE agrees to implement the pay hike for private unaided schools then the appropriate fee structure can be made applicable.