ADM (law and order) Prem Prakash (left) chairs a meeting between the DPS management and parents at the district collectorate on Thursday. Picture by Gautam Dey

Ranchi/Dhanbad, May 7: Giving agitating parents a shot in the arm, the Jharkhand Educational Tribunal (JET) today put a stay on the fee hike of DPS, Dhanbad, and extended the same till May 25 for De Nobili School.

JET chairman L.P.N. Shahdeo issued the order after S.M. Saifulla, the disgruntled guardian of a Class VI student, approached the tribunal against the 55 per cent hike in DPS fee.

According to a report submitted to the tribunal, Dhanbad district education officer Raj Kumar Singh had on January 29 issued a circular asking schools to abide by a state order and inform him before raising tuition fee. But the DPS allegedly failed to do so.

Sources said that though the JET had issued a stay, its order was not binding on the school.

The tribunal today also heard the plea of some teachers of Oxford Public School — one of the many institutions that have contested the stay on fee hike —who claimed that they hadn’t received their April salary. Shahdeo asked the teachers to file a case for further enquiry.

Earlier in the day, a meeting between parents and DPS management, chaired by additional district magistrate (ADM), law and order, Prem Prakash, to resolve the fee issue remained inconclusive.

Parents and guardians, under the aegis of DPS Abhivavak Sangh, pressed for a rollback, but the DPS management remained adamant. It argued that it would not be able to pay teaching and non-teaching staff as per the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission. The school claimed that its expenditure had shot up by 57 per cent.

Refusing to buy the explanation, the parents sought audit reports of the school’s expenditure for the past three years under the Right to Information Act. DPS principal K.B. Bhargava said he would be able to show the reports only after getting the permission from the management committee. The guardians decided not to pay the increased fee until then.

ADM Prakash said the school, after seeking approval from its management committee, would submit the audit reports to the administration and on their basis a decision would be taken.