The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court has given the state government a last chance to file a reply on the financial exploitation of parents by private schools in the city. The government was ordered to file a reply on this matter within three weeks, as no action was taken despite being found guilty in the inquiry by the education authorities.
Sandipani School has filed a petition against the order of the education authorities, and 34 parents, including Narendra Kene, have filed a mediation application against the school management. The matter was heard before Justice Atul Chandurkar and Justice Abhay Mantri. According to the mediation application, some parents of Sandipani School Hazari Pahad branch, Nagpur, together presented their grievances to the Sandipani School management in the academic session 2018-19. But without taking notice of them, the Sandipani school management took a stubborn stance. Therefore, from the session 2014–15, a complaint was made to the government that the school has been illegally increasing the educational fees every year in violation of the Maharashtra Educational Institutions Act. After the school management was found guilty of this, the Sandipani school management filed a petition in the High Court against it. This case includes Sandipani School, along with School of Scholars, and some other schools.
The applicant’s parents have requested that the Sandipani School be ordered to immediately refund the excess fees collected from the parents to each parent, and order non-payment of fees from the academic session 2024-25 till the matter is decided. The court has given the government a last chance to file a reply on the matter.
The Education Officer passed orders dated November 28th, 2018, and April 23rd, 2019, and ordered the refund of the additional fees collected during the academic session 2017-18 and 2019-20 to Sandipani School. The amount of additional fee charged by Sandipani School alone is Rs 3 crore 47 lakh 36 thousand 39 rupees.