No student to be struck off school rolls for non-payment of fee: HC

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday said the names of students will not be struck off the rolls of private schools in Punjab on account of non-payment of fee.

The interim relief came during a hearing by the division bench of the high court on Monday, following an appeal filed by the state government.

The move comes as a major relief for parents of students of private unaided schools who had cited financial difficulty for not paying the fee for the lockdown period, and whose wards were consequently facing threats of being removed from schools, according to the state government's statement.

The Punjab government had filed a plea in the division bench of the high court against the order of a single judge allowing private schools to collect fee irrespective of whether they were offering online education or not, and to charge actual expenses incurred, for the lockdown period.

This relief will be applicable to all those students or parents who are unable to pay school fees and who had filed an application before the school and the state regulator under the Punjab Regulation of Fee of Unaided Educational Institutions. Act, 2016, showing financial difficulty, the statement said.

The high court asked school authorities to decide on applications of such parents expeditiously.

After hearing parties for more than two hours on the question of interim relief, the division bench of the high court, comprising Chief Justice Ravi Shankar Jha and Justice Arun Palli, orally noted that ordinarily, the court would have only issued notice on the appeals, but the interim order was currently being passed given the apprehension and anxiety expressed by the Advocate General Punjab on the effect of the judgment passed by the single judge, it stated.