MADURAI: The vacation bench of the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Friday granted an interim injunction restraining the school education department from collecting unauthorised question paper fee from students studying in government high and higher secondary schools across Tamil Nadu.
A bench of justices GR Swaminathan and P Murugan passed the interim order on a PIL filed by Tamil Nadu High-Higher Secondary School Graduate Teachers’ Association, represented by its president, A Malaikozhunthan from Karur.
According to the association, the government had abolished the collection of the above fee from the academic year 2026-2027. Despite this, unauthorised collection continues in several schools, it alleged.
The association also raised concerns over the lack of transparency regarding the utilisation of the said fee collected in the past academic years. It further claimed that the school education department has not maintained proper receipts for such collection.
Stating that the records, circulars, instructions, etc should be examined to determine the nature, extent and legality of the fee collections made in the previous years, the association added that if unauthorised collection and misappropriation are established, action should be initiated against the people concerned.
The association requested the court to issue an interim direction to the vigilance authorities to inquire into the above issue. The case was adjourned for further hearing.