CHENNAI: In view of the uncertainty over the opening of educational institutions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Madras High Court has permitted the managements of private unaided colleges and schools in the state to collect, for the 2020-21 academic year, 75 per cent of the fees collected during the previous academic year.
Of this, 40 per cent can be collected as advance fees on or before August 31. The balance 35 per cent shall be collected within two months from the date of reopening and commencement of physical
classes, Justice N Anand Venkatesh said on Friday.
The judge was passing interim orders on a batch of over 30 PIL petitions from private educational institutions challenging an order dated April 20 of the government preventing them from collecting the full fees and at the same time directing them to pay the salaries to the teaching and non-teaching staff.
The judge said that he was passing this order taking into consideration the present situation and to find an interim solution to clear the logjam and balance the interests of all the stakeholders.
The immediate requirement is that these unaided institutions must start their functioning. For this to happen, they require some flow of funds, the judge added.
The unaided private institutions shall collect the arrears of fees payable for 2019-2020 on or before September 30. If any student has already paid the entire fees including arrears, the same shall not be a ground to claim refund of the fees, the judge made it clear.
The fee committee, constituted by the government, shall immediately start the process of determining the tuition fees for the respective institutions and make an attempt to complete this within eight months from August 2020. The payment of balance if any, shall be determined after the final decision of the committee, the judge said.
The directions given to the fee committee will not in any way prejudice the rights of the institutions which had already challenged the jurisdiction of the determination of the fees, which was pending before this court and the Supreme Court, the judge added.
He also made it clear that the teaching and non teaching staff shall not insist for any increment in salary and/or DA, until the restoration of normalcy and further orders of this court.
The state government shall immediately take into consideration the request made by the institutions to supply textbooks and notebooks to students either free of cost or at a nominal rate. For this purpose, it can get the particulars from the respective institutions regarding the students who are in dire straits and it can also be confined to those students.
This direction is issued purely in the interest of the students who should not be deprived of education due to their inability to purchase textbooks and notebooks, the judge added and hoped that the government will come up with a positive response in this regard.
The matter will be taken up for further hearing on October 5.