CUTTACK: The Confederation of Odisha Public Schools has moved an intervention application in the Orissa High Court in connection with a PIL for exemption of tuition fees by private schools during the lockdown.
In the application, the confederation argued that the staff of private schools will be directly affected if any order is passed in the case, so they be included as parties in the case.
The confederation claimed to be an association of management of 2000 private public schools mostly CBSE affiliated schools and State Board schools like Saraswati Sishu Mandir.
Confederation president Badrinath Pattnaik pleaded in the application that exemption of tuition fees will not only render the member schools incapable of paying salary of their staff but will also make them defaulters as most of them had incurred bank and private loans for establishment and running of the institutions.
The confederation has already urged the State Government that there should not be any waiver of tuition fees as salaries cannot be waived, he added.
The private schools also expected exemption of electricity bills for three months and interest free soft loans for two years with a moratorium of one year.
On April 24, the High Court had issued notices to the State Government after registering the PIL in response to a letter petition received from a Sambalpur-based lawyer Mohammad Mustaq Ansari seeking exemption of tuition fees and non-enhancement of fees by private schools. The PIL was taken up through video conferencing on Thursday.
Petitioner counsel Dilip Kumar Ray said the division bench of Justice Sanju Panda and Justice KR Mohapatrra issued order for filing of counter affidavit by the State Government in the case and taking on record the intervention petition.