Punjab and Haryana High Court announces order in the matter of school fees

Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday announced the order on the matter of school fees. In order, the High Court stated that this order shall dispose of all the above-mentioned writ petitions as the impugned orders are common. However, for the sake of convenience, the facts are being extracted from CWP-7409-2020. Due to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, the world is witnessing unprecedented times. India has not been able to remain unscathed from the spread of the contagion. To deal with the emergent situation, the Government of India as also the State of Punjab, has taken certain stringent measures. The country has been under a nationwide lockdown since March 24. The petitioners CWP No.7409-2020 and other connected cases are, therefore, aggrieved with the following directions of the said memo:

• The schools shall not charge any fee for the period of lockdown/curfew, excluding the period of summer break. However, those schools that have provided or are providing online education during the period of lockdown may charge ‘tuition fee’ only, i.e. fee other than building charges, transportation charges, charges for meals, etc.
• Given the exceptional circumstances occasioned by the lockdown, private schools are advised not the impose any increase in school fees in 2020-21 over those charged in 2019-20.

• School management should not resort to the removal of any teacher or reduction in the monthly salary or total emoluments of teaching/non-teaching staff.

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