A high court division bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Sudhir Singh on Friday summoned education principal secretary R.K. Mahajan in a case to restrain private schools from charging exorbitant fees from guardians.

The order was issued while hearing a PIL filed by Sanjeev Kumar. In his petition, Sanjeev said nearly all private schools charge exorbitant fee. He had also stated that every year, the schools increase their fee resulting in financial burden on parents.

Petitioner's counsel Ram Sandesh Roy told the court that to monitor the fee structure of private schools, states like Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan have their own regulatory bodies. In Bihar there is no such mechanism owing to which the schools have a free hand.

The court asked the government lawyer as to why there was no regulatory body to check these private schools. There should have been a transparent system regulating private school fees, the bench observed.

It then ordered principal Mahajan to appear before the court explaining the reason behind non-formation of any regulatory body in the state for restricting fees. The matter will be heard after six weeks.

Affidavit

The same bench directed health principal secretary R.K. Mahajan to file a comprehensive affidavit stating what measures the state government had taken to upgrade the Government Ayurvedic College and Hospital, Patna, into the All India Institute of Ayurveda. The order was passed on a PIL by Rameshwar Singh.