Govt has authority to regulate fees in schools: HC

Kochi: A single bench of the Kerala High Court had said that the state government has the power to frame a legislation to control the fees levied by private schools if the infrastructure and facilities provided do not correspond with such fee.

The observation was made by Justice A Muhammed Mustaque in an interim order issued on a petition filed by Sankara Narayanan, class X student and four other students of Sri Sri Ravu Shankar Vidhya Mandir at Panangad.

In the petition filed through advocate Premchand R Nair, the students were represented by their parents in court.

The children who approached the court were children of office bearers of the PTA of the previous year. They were expelled after the parents raised a protest against the fee hike.

In the interim order, the court observed that there is no mechanism in the state to address the complaint regarding fee hike. Education is a charitable activity and both the provider and the beneficiary have to see it in such a manner and there cannot be any element of profit except for the further development of school infrastructure, the court said.

While stressing on the need for a legislation, the court said the issue might not have boiled up to this level if there was a mechanism for providing redressal for grievances. No court can determine what should be the fee and it should be determined based on the facilities and infrastructure provided by each institution, the court added.

While directing for impleading the government to know its views about bringing in a mechanism to control fee hike, the court said in the order, 'The State has necessary legislative power under the Constitution to make laws in relation to education. Such power includes the power to regulate the fees levied by the educational institutions, If any educational institution's fees is not corresponding to the facilities and infrastructure provided by them, it can be said that it is running for profit. In such an event, the state can interfere. It is for the state to determine on what modalities in which such regulation has to be made'.

The court also directed the school to readmit the students stating that any dispute between the parents and the school cannot result in deprivation of rights of children. Further hearing in the case is scheduled after two weeks.