New Delhi: In the current situation of global pandemic, people are not only facing a health crisis but also financial and emotional sufferings.
The Supreme Court refused to entertain request from parents of various states seeking a waiver-off private school fees due to the coronavirus- induced lockdown.
A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde refused to interfere on the issue saying that problems of each state are different and the matter should have been raised before respective High Courts.
“This should have been raised before the state High Courts. Why has it come to the Supreme Court? It’s a fact intensive situation,” Chief Justice of India S A Bobde, heading a three-judge bench, observed.
“You have filed a plea for the whole country. It is a problem for us as we do not know who would take a decision for the whole country. Problems in each state are different,” the bench told the petitioner.
The court got a plea from parents from eight different states seeking regulatory mechanisms for school fees in private schools due to COVID-19 burst.
The request of parents added that full fees should not be charged for online classes and claimed that several schools are charging extra fees for online classes.
One of the petitioners Sunil Sharma said to ensure all the private and unaided schools do not charge any fees from the students from April 1 till the commencement of physical classes, which are suspended due to the lockdown.
In the plea, the litigants also urged that the Central and state governments direct the private, unaided and aided schools to not strike out/oust students or levy any penal/surcharge on the school fees for non-payment by enrolled students on account of the country-wide lockdown.
It also added that due to lockdown parents are constantly confronting financial and emotional sufferings and it may leave a few of them with no option but to withdraw their children or students from schools for an unforeseeable period of time.