CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has declined to adjudicate beyond the MoU arrived at between private institutions agreeing to waiver of fees in a graded manner in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.
The HC also directed that individuals or parents associations still having objections to the proposed slab can approach the Court afresh.
Earlier, in pursuance of the HC order, the Principal Secretary of School and Mass Education department had submitted a report after mediation with stakeholders on the school fee waiver. The report said, after mediation, the MoU was signed by 14 stakeholders who had agreed upon different waiver slabs as per school fee structure.
The Court was hearing three PILs which had sought waiver of fees for students of private schools in view of the pandemic.
Disposing of the petitions, the bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice BR Sarangi said, “Given the limited scope of interference in the matters of this nature, this Court is not persuaded to further issue directions in the matter in light of the MoU between 14 educational institutions in Odisha on the question of fee waiver during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic”.
“Nevertheless, it must be clarified that this will not preclude individual institutions or parties, who may be aggrieved or who may have a different point of view than that recorded in the MoU, or seek strict enforcement of the terms and conditions of recognition or grant of NOC as set out in the Resolution on September 23, 1996, from seeking appropriate reliefs in separate proceedings as permissible to them in accordance with law”, the bench said in its January 7 order, a copy of which was available on Sunday.
One of the petitioners, Odisha Abhibhabak Mahasangh, had argued that the resolution issued by the department on September 23, 1996, which is still in vogue, gives the State the power to regulate the fees being charged by the private schools.
Advocate General Ashok Kumar Parija had submitted that the State government would strictly enforce the terms and conditions set out in the resolution. He also submitted that the State government’s stand is that the Court may accept the MoU and pass appropriate directions.