New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said educational institutions must reduce fees as their running costs have come down with various facilities provided on campus remaining closed.
A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari said the management of educational institutions should be sensitive to the problems faced by people due to the pandemic and take steps to provide succour to students and their parents in these harsh times. It said insisting on payment for facilities not provided to students would amount to profiteering which must be avoided by the schools, media reports said.
“In law, the school management cannot be heard to collect fees in respect of activities and facilities which are, in fact, not provided to or availed of by its students due to circumstances beyond their control. Demanding fees even in respect of overheads on such activities would be nothing short of indulging in profiteering and commercialisation. It is a well-known fact and judicial notice can also be taken that due to complete lockdown, schools were not allowed to open for a substantially long period during the academic year 2020-21. Resultantly, the school management must have saved overheads and recurring cost on various items such as petrol/diesel, electricity, ma maintenance cost, water charges, stationery charges, etc,” the bench was quoted as saying.
“The appellants (school management of the private unaided sc schools) shall collect annual school fees from their students as fixed under the Act of 2016 for the academic year 201920, but by providing deduction of 15 percent on that amount in lieu of unutilised facilities by students during the relevant period of the academic year 2020-21,” it said.
The court also directed the schools to not debar any student .from attending either online classes or physical classes on account of nonpayment of fees, arrears/outstanding fees.
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