Division bench stays order for fee regulation panel

Kochi: A division bench of the High Court on Monday stayed the order of a single bench asking the state government to consider setting up a mechanism for regulating fees charged by schools under the private management in the state.

The division bench stayed the order for two weeks on a writ petition filed by the school management of Sri Sri Ravishankar Vidya Mandir at Cheppanam near Panangad in Ernakulam district against the single bench order directing the school management to readmit five students expelled from the school. The division bench has posted the case for further hearing on next Monday.

The school management has expelled five students following objections raised by their parents against fees imposed by the school. The division bench order came even as the school management has refused to readmit the expelled students as per the order of the single bench. The main grouse of the school management against parents of the expelled students is that they have created a ruckus in the school by staging protest against the fee hikes.

In an interim order issued on August 2, the single bench has directed the school authorities to readmit the students on the ground that the children should not suffer because of the fight between the school management and the parents.

The single bench has also pointed out that such disputes are caused due to the absence of a mechanism to fix the fee in private schools in the state and directed the state government to consider forming an appropriate mechanism for the regulation of fees in the state.