DM orders Fee Hike committee, schools fish for loopholes to opt-out

Ashish Kedia

District Magistrate N P Singh has instructed all CBSE/ICSE affiliated schools of Gautam Buddha Nagar to form a committee to review fee hike. As per the instructions the five member committee will also have a parent representative and a chartered accountant.
However eight prominent schools have categorically refused to implement these orders citing a pending case in Allahabad high court.
A writ petition (No.36481) was filed by a group of schools in the year 2009. The matter still remains sub-judice. Schools including DPS, Greater Noida, Bal Bharti Public School, Ram-Eesh International Greater Noida, Lotus Valley International School etc. have cited pendency of this case for not being able to implement the DM’s order.

The case was filed against one similar committee formation order by the then UP government deputy secretary Mamta Srivastava. This June, 2009 directive proposed to form a DM led committee that should have DIOS, CDO and treasury officers has its members. This committee was also to appoint two members from the parents of students studying in the school.

Many other schools are still waiting to receive a written order in this regard and have reserved their action or comment on the same for later.
As new session in most schools have already begun, parent bodies, district administration and schools are still to reach some amicable solution that can be mutually acceptable to all concerned parties.

It must be recalled that steep fee-hike by some institutions have fueled many protest and agitation in the district since last month. Even state-government has taken note of the situation and has issued necessary directives for the same.
On a side note, as of April 1, 2017, there are a total number of 6,96,223 cases pending at Allahabad bench of High court.