Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, July 7: The Private Schools of Kashmir are violating the Jammu and Kashmir High Court orders by asking the parents of the students to deposit the fee for the months of September and October 2014 when schools were closed due to devastative floods.
Almost all the schools, except Presentation Convent Higher Secondary School, Rajbagh Srinagar; Burn Hall School Sonwar Srinagar; Tyndale Biscoe Sheikh Bagh Srinagar, Malison School Sheikh Bagh Srinagar and Kashmir Valley School, are asking students to deposit the fee for these months.
The Court in October had directed the Schools not to charge any fee for the months of September and October last year when floods led to devastation in Kashmir and schools remained closed.
The JK Public School, Humhama, Srinagar has charged fee for the months of September and October 2014 from the students. Parents of the students said that they were asked to deposit the fee for the months of September and October 2014 including bus fee. “We deposited the fee for these two months as the school authorities told us that our wards won’t be promoted to next classes. They even charged us bus fee when our wards were sitting at home”, they said.
The Oasis Public School, Gogjibagh, Srinagar, has asked the parents of the students to deposit the fee for the months of September and October 2014 in accordance with the court orders. The SMS sent to the parents reads: “In pursuance of the court order No. OWP-1182/2013 dated Ist June 2015, you are advised to deposit fee for the month of September, October 2014 immediately. In case your fee was adjusted, kindly redeposit.”
Additional Advocate General (AAG), Advocate Shabir Ahmad Naik, told Excelsior that there is no modified order from the Jammu and Kashmir High Court asking schools to charge the fee for the months of September and October 2014. He said that High Court last year ordered the private schools to waive off the fee for the months of September and October 2014.
The other schools that have charged fee from the students include Little Angles High School Rajbagh, DPS Budgam, New Convent Gogjibagh, RP School, Green Valley and several other schools across Kashmir valley.
A parent, SA Bhat, said that the Delhi Public School (DPS) Budgam charged them fee for the months of September and October despite court orders asking them to waive off the fee.
Convener Joint Committee of Private Schools (JCPS), G N Var, however, told Excelsior that they have challenged the court order asking the Private Schools to waive off the fee for the months of September and October 2014.
“We have challenged the court order in which court has passed harsh direction asking schools not to charge the fee for the month of September and October 2014. We were asked to file undertaking that we have not charged any fee for these two months. We challenged it before the division bench of the court. And court has accepted it”, Var said.
The parents said that the schools should be penalized for asking parents to deposit the fee for the two months by wrongly quoting a court order. They said that the Court should take serious note of the violations as it amounts to contempt of court.
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