Parents’ body writes to Delhi govt over intervention in fee refund matter

New Delhi: Delhi Parents Association (DPA) has appealed to chief minister and education minister to step in over the unresolved school fee refund issue tied to the recommendations of Justice Anil Dev Singh committee.

In a memorandum submitted to Delhi govt on Thursday, the association called for the names of all schools liable for refunds to be made public and urged govt to present a strong case before Delhi High Court, which is set to hear the matter on May 8.

A public list identifying nearly 531 schools covered under the committee’s recommendations was issued in 2016, although the committee is believed to have continued functioning until around April 2020.

DPA alleged that the list currently available in the public domain may not reflect the complete and final set of schools examined by the committee. It further claimed that close to 230 schools had challenged the committee’s findings in court, while nearly 300 others may still be liable for refunds despite not contesting the recommendations legally.

The Justice Anil Dev Singh committee was set up to investigate allegations of arbitrary fee hikes by private unaided schools in Delhi and had recommended refunds in cases where schools were found to have collected excess fees.

The association also expressed concern that certain schools may not feature either in the publicly available list or among those known to have approached courts, leading to uncertainty over the total number of schools liable for refunds and the final amount involved.

Referring to public reports that pegged the refund liability at nearly Rs 750 crore in 2019, DPA claimed that with simple annual interest of 9%, the amount could have risen to over Rs 1,317 crore by 2026.

“The amount represents the hard-earned money of lakhs of parents and should not be diluted, diverted or otherwise closed without a transparent refund process,” the association said in its memorandum.
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