Orissa High Court

Cuttack, Sept. 6: Orissa High Court today upheld its earlier order against fee hike by the management of DAV schools in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.

A division bench of Chief Justice V. Gopala Gowda today dismissed writ appeals filed by the DAV management in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. The writ appeals had challenged an order striking fee hike and making it mandatory for the DAV management to seek prior approval of a state government committee before increasing fees. A single-judge bench of Justice M.M. Das passed the order on June 27.

The writ appeals had contended that the Orissa Education Act was not applicable to the DAV schools in the state. Hence, the state government has no control over their management.

Rejecting the DAV school management’s contentions, the division bench observed that “the writ appeals are devoid of merit and accordingly dismissed”.

In his reaction to the verdict, regional director of the DAV Schools (Orissa) Himanshu Mohanty said: “We will definitely seek further legal remedy.” DAV runs nearly 40 schools, including four each in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, in the state.

The division bench endorsed the single judge’s ruling that the “Orissa Education Act is applicable to the DAV schools, which are affiliated to the CBSE. The managing committee, is to be constituted in accordance with the Orissa Education Act and not as per the affiliation bye-laws of the CBSE”. It also approved the single judge’s striking down fee hike on the ground that the hike was made by local managing committees constituted “contrary to law”.

“Rejection of the writ appeals has vindicated our stand against arbitrary fee hike. Moreover, it has paved the way for inclusion of representatives of parents in the managing committee of the schools,” said A.P. Bisnoy, secretary of the parents association of DAV school at Unit-VIII in Bhubaneswar.

Justice Das had held the view that till the state government takes a policy decision, a committee should be constituted to look into the matter of fee hike by the private unaided educational institutions (high schools and secondary schools). Any school intending to raise its fees from the existing rate to higher rate is to make an application through its principal or headmaster to the committee along with documents and materials.

The court constituted the committee consisting of commissioner-cum-secretary of the school and mass education department, inspector of schools of the locality of applicant school, principal or headmaster of the applicant school, two representatives of parents association of the schools concerned and head of the local self-government of the area in which the school is functioning.

“Till such fee structure is provided by the committee constituted, the DAV public schools functioning in the state shall continue to collect fees from the students at the rate which was being collected for the session 2008-09,” the high court order said.

School fee hike had been a contentious issue in the state since the private English medium school managements went for enhancing tuition fees from 2009-10 academic session on the plea of implementation of the sixth pay commission for both teaching and non-teaching staff.

The move triggered resistance from parents in different parts of the state, especially in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, when some of the schools introduced hikes ranging between 50 per cent and 100 per cent. The high court issued a stay order after parents of the DAV schools in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack challenged its validity and 60 per cent fee hike for 2009-10 against the existing Rs 440 per month for 2008-09.