Srinagar: The J&K High Court has asked government to file its response to a suggestion for having a policy for increasing the school fee by a “certain percentage” across the board on annual basis.
“The state government shall also file affidavit indicating its response to para 2 of our order dated 21 August 17 wherein a suggestion was noted that the state government may frame a policy for increasing the school fee by a certain percentage across the board on annual basis depending on certain criteria. The affidavit be filed definitely within three weeks,” said a division bench of the Chief Justice Badar Durrez Ahmad and Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey while hearing a Public Interest Litigation.
The court was also informed that the tenure of chairman of fee fixation committee has been extended by further one year. “The committee shall consider the representation of schools within three weeks and inform the court.”
On last date of hearing, the high court had directed the government to either reconstitute or extend the term of old fee-fixation committee in the state within two weeks “so that the work will not suffer.”
The court had passed the orders following submissions by senior advocate Sunil Sethi, representing Tyndale-Biscoe & Mallinson School, that state government may frame a policy of increasing the fee by a certain percentage amount across the board on an annual basis dependent on certain criteria such as rate of inflation etc.
In 2015, the government appointed Justice (Retd) Hakim Imtiyaz Hussain has as chairman of the fee-fixing panel for schools with a view to regulate the fee structure of private educational institutions in the state.