Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court has found fault with the Andhra Pradesh government with regard to implementation of the GO Ms No. 45 issued in 2010 to regulate fee structure in private schools, by observing that no steps have been taken by the government to get a writ petition disposed of or to vacate the interim order against the GO. Thus there has been inaction on the part of the government.
A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta and Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar was dismissing a PIL by Kesari Gurumurthy, an advocate of Nellore, seeking to direct the authorities to take steps for getting the interim suspension of GO 42 to be vacated, in the said matters and other identical matters, if any, for the welfare of the parents having school going children.
The petitioner also sought direction to the authorities to issue instructions to all district educational officers in both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to not collect school fees beyond Rs 7,500 in rural areas and Rs 9,000 in urban areas for primary and upper primary schools and Rs 10, 800 in rural areas and Rs 12,000 in urban areas for high schools, for each student, and to strictly adhere to the fee structure stipulated in the GO.
The Chief Justice pointed out that the GO was challenged before this court in separate proceedings wherein this court has granted interim stay of the operation of the GO. The bench said, “Under the circumstances, we are of the view that no justiciable cause has been made out before us and more so, when the issue is sub-judice in another writ petition, we cannot examine the same in this Public Interest Litigation. Hence, we are dismissing the PIL on that ground alone.”
