Allahabad HC asks UP govt to reconsider ban on fee hike in private schools

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday asked the Uttar Pradesh government to reconsider the ban on fee hike in private schools. The ban was imposed in the wake the Covid pandemic as schools were shut and people were facing financial problems.

A Division Bench of Justices A R Masoodi and N K Jauhri passed the order on a writ petition filed by the Association of Private Schools. It observed, ”It is the bounden duty of the state government to take into consideration any direction issued by this court, failing which the controversies raised before a court of law assume different dimensions for adjudication of the dispute on merit.”

”The policy of the state government evolved under extra ordinary circumstances and affecting the cause of education at a large scale must be revisited with a sense of responsibility in order to strike a balance between the public interest and statutory rights of a party aggrieved,” added the bench insisting that the state must revisit its order.

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Allowing more time to the state to consider the issue in the light of the order issued earlier on February 16, the Bench said, ”We hope and trust that a final decision in the light of observations made in the order already passed are taken note of by the state on or before March 31 and apprised to the court on the next date of listing.”

The petitioners had challenged the state government’s decision of January 7, 2022, whereby it put a ban on private schools to increase fee due to Covid conditions.

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It was submitted on behalf of the petitioner that the January order was passed looking into the closure of normal business of establishments and institutions but now the government itself on February 11, 2022 issued another order opening all establishments and institutions, and there is no logic to continue the ban. The court has fixed April 11 as the next date of hearing in the matter.