Allahabad High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition seeking a complete waiver on school and college fees for the period they have been closed or will remain so due to the Covid-19 pandemic. A two-judge bench of justices Sunita Agrawal and S D Singh dismissed the plea by local resident Ashutosh Kumar Pandey, terming his petition as wholly misconceived.

We record at the outset that the submission of the petitioner that the schools are observing holidays during Covid-19 epidemic is absolutely false/wrong, said the bench, dismissing the plea.

“Most of the schools and colleges are taking up on-line classes for students and teachers are taking either live classes or sending videos to the students. Students are even being given homework and the same is being checked by the teachers,” the court said regarding the Allahabad schools fee waiver.

“Moreover, in any case, the pleadings made in the writ petition are insufficient to invoke the extra-ordinary jurisdiction of the high court in the nature of public interest litigation,” the bench added.

Also read: Covid-19 fees waiver: Private Schools SOS

Earlier, several private school associations (NISA, FICCI Arise, Society for Unaided Private Schools of Rajasthan etc) have made representations to the PMO (prime minister’s office) and the Union HRD ministry protesting these fee circulars on the grounds that they are ill-considered, arbitrary and violative of the fundamental right of private school managements to engage in the vocation of preschool to higher secondary education.

Source: PTI