As amenities can differ, schools cannot charge same fees: HC

Nagpur: The Nagpur bench of Bombay high court ruled on Saturday that there cannot be any uniformity in the fee structure of aided and unaided schools across Maharashtra. The petitioners had approached the judiciary seeking for uniform fees in all schools — kindergarten to junior college.
“The fees are likely to differ for every school for various reasons. Though no direction for having uniformity in the fee structure at par with government schools can be granted, in case of any grievance in the application of fee structure, the provisions of the ‘Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Regulation of Fee) Act, 2011, being comprehensive in nature, can provide the resolution.The petitioners would be free to take recourse to the Act,” a division bench comprising justices Atul Chandurkar and Vrushali Joshi held.
Emphasizing that the overall control regarding fees fixation vests with the state or the centre, in view of the Act, the bench said the facilities and standard of imparting instructions are likely to differ in the schools. “It is also likely that the amenities provided by one school may be distinct from the other. For this reason, it is possible that the fee structure in one school may be at variance with another.”
Before disposing of the PIL filed by petitioners – Yogesh Pathre, Jagruk Palak Samiti and others — through counsel KB Ambilwade against deputy director of education, School of Scholars and others, the judges said various factors are required to be taken into consideration while determining the fee structure.