COURT ON ITS OWN MOTION Vs. UNION OF INDIA, THROUGH MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT, NEW DELHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Court taking cognizance of the reports published in the newspapers about arbitrary and exorbitant fees charged by private schools and certain other irregularities committed by the private schools, brought to the notice of this Court through an anonymous letter, issued notice on 04.07.2013.

(2.) An Intervention Application being I.A. No. 2111 of 2015 was filed by one Abhay Kumar Singh through Mr. Vineet Prakash, Advocate, who assisted the Court during the hearing of the instant Public Interest Litigation .

(3.) A detailed counter-affidavit was filed by the respondent-State of Jharkhand indicating the mechanism for ensuring compliance of the provisions under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, however, lack of control on other aspects regarding charging of exorbitant tuition fee, transport fee, development fee etc. were not satisfactorily explained by the respondents. During the proceeding of the case it was noticed by the Court that the States like Delhi, Tamilnadu, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh etc. have already a legislation regulating the aforesaid aspects. By order dated 31.07.2014, response of the respondent-State was sought; whether a similar legislation for regulating collection of fee by the private schools is under contemplation or not, however, no response came from the respondent-State.