The Allahabad High Court. While dealing with the issue involving the rustication of two siblings due to an issue regarding the applicability of the sibling fee scheme benefit observed that the Sibling Fee Relief under the Circular dated 5.8.2021 issued by respondent No. 7 is a benefit offered to the parents whose two children are studying in the institution subject to certain riders and cannot be claimed as a matter of right.
Brief Facts:
Petitioner No. 1's children, petitioners 2 and 3 were admitted to DPS, Raj Nagar where their older sibling had studied. The school administration introduced a Scheme/Circular for fee rebates under the head of COVID relief and Sibling Relief for the academic session 2022-2023-2024. The Sibling Relief Scheme provides 50% fee relief to parents who have admitted their two children to the school and such fee relief would be given to the younger sibling who is the biological offspring of the same parents.
Contentions of the Petitioner:
The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner claimed that after deducting the sibling fee and COVID relief fee, an additional demand for fees was raised by the school. Since the school refused to budge, a complaint was filed against the school on the IGRS portal and also before the District Fee Regulatory Committee under the U.P. Self-Financed Independent School (Fee Regulation) Act, 2018. It was submitted that since the school had failed to provide the documents to the Regulatory Committee, a fine of Rs. 1 Lakh was imposed on the school. Consequently, the school struck off the names of petitioners 2 and 3 and issued ante dated Transfer Certificates.
Contentions of the Respondent:
The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent contended that the children were suffering due to the actions of their parents who had not deposited the fee in the prescribed manner. Since the second quarterly fee was paid in instalments, the sibling fee rebate had been removed. Accordingly, demand was raised for payment of full fees. It was further argued that the parents had misbehaved with the teachers and not presented themselves in settlement talks in complaints filed by them. It was submitted that eventually, the school had waived the fee demand and issued transfer certificates, however, the parents continued to send their children to school.
Observations of the court:
The court stated that this unfortunate situation has arisen on account of a misunderstanding of the terms of the Sibling Fee Relief Scheme. According to the petitioner No. 1, he was entitled to the benefits under the Scheme as the institution had accepted the fee for 2nd quarter in part. Admittedly, the first deposit towards the fee of the 2nd quarter was made on 5.7.2022 by depositing a sum of Rs.25,000/- and the second deposit towards the said quarter was made on 8.7.2022 for Rs.27,704/-. The total amount deposited was Rs.52,704/- which was the amount required to be deposited towards the fee for both petitioners Nos. 2 & 3 after adjusting the Sibling Fee relief and 10% COVID relief. However, the 2nd deposit was made on 8.7.2022 and not on or before 5.7.2022 as provided under the Scheme and as such, respondent No. 7 was justified in not extending the benefit of the Sibling Fee Relief to the parents. No benefit of the Scheme has been extended for the deposits made in respect of the subsequent quarters.
The court further noted that the Transfer Certificates were issued to the petitioner Nos. 2 and 3 on 23.3.2023. Though the names of the petitioner Nos. 2 and 3 were struck off from the Rolls of the school, their ID cards were withdrawn. Yet, the petitioners No. 2 and 3 continued to be sent to the school by the parents. The final report cards for their respective classes were handed over in March 2023 and they were not promoted to the next higher class. The School Authorities did not prevent them from attending school presumably on the ground that the enquiry by the District Fee Regulatory Authority was underway at the relevant time. The School Authorities did not mark the attendance nor accepted any fee from the petitioners and further noted that the session 2023-2024 is virtually on the last leg with only 04 weeks remaining whereafter the final exams are scheduled to take place and the court thus is is constrained to permit the petitioner Nos. 2 and 3 to be re-admitted in the current session.
The decision of the Court:
The court disposed of the petition and directed petitioner No. 1 shall withdraw all proceedings initiated against the School Authorities and submit an undertaking that such conduct shall not be repeated in future and further directed the respondent to withdraw the defamation case and/or any other cases instituted against the parents of the petitioner Nos. 2 and 3 and withdraw the transfer certificates dated 23.3.2023 accept the fee in respect of the petitioner Nos. 2 and 3, restore their names on the school rolls and readmit them for the academic session 2024-2025.
Case Title: Satendra Kumar and Ors. vs. State of U.P. and Ors.
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Ashutosh Srivastava
Case No.: WRIT - C No. - 31168 of 2023
Advocate for the Petitioner: Mr. Ritesh Upadhyay
Advocate for the Respondent: C.S.C, Mr. Ashish Kumar Singh, Mr. Hridai Narain Pandey and Mr. Tarun Agrawal
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