HC: Govt can’t regulate unaided schools’ fees

NT Correspondent

Dharwad: The Kar nataka High Court on Monday struck down the State government’s powers to regulate the fees of unaided, private schools, adding that educational institutions cannot be punished for violation of the said norms.

The single judge bench of Justice E S Indiresh of the Dharwad High Court referred to the TM Pai Foundation case and said that many provisions in the Karnataka Education Act (KEA) 1983 were “unconstitutional” and “non-applicable”.

“Section 2(11) (a) read with Section 48 and 124(A) of the Karnataka Education Act 1983 are contrary to Article 14 of the Constitution and are held to be unconstitutional insofar as private unaided educational institutions are concerned,” Justice Indiresh said.

Under the KEA and Section 124A of Indian Penal Code (IPC), District Education Regulating Authority under the chairmanship of deputy commissioner (DC) could impose a penalty of Rs1 lakh on erring educational institutions and order them to refund the fees collected by the school which were found to exceed the amount prescribed under Section 48 of the act.

Justice Indiresh said that Section 5 (a) and 112 (a) of the KEA violated Articles 14 and 19 (1) (g) of the Constitution and referenced the Avinash Mehrotra case in the Supreme Court. Section 5 (a) deals with child safety in schools and Section 112 (a) enables penalising of schools found to be violating the norms.

“It is in the interest of the general public that more good quality schools are established; autonomy and non-regulation of the school administration in the right of appointment, admission of students and the fee to be charged will ensure more such institutions are established,” the petitioner argued.

Associated Managements of Gover nment Recognised English Medium Schools in Karnataka (KAMS) in its capacity as one of the petitioners in the case had argued that the decision to decide the fees of the private unaided institutions should not rest with the government as it violated the autonomy of the educational institutions in question. KAMS general secretary Shashikumar hailed the judgement as fair and just.