D.A.V.College ... vs Laxminarayan Mishra & Ors

2. This Appeal is directed against judgment and order dated 6.9.2011 whereby the Orissa High Court dismissed, amongst other appeals, Writ Appeal No.387 of 2011 preferred by the appellant herein and upheld judgment and order of a learned Single Judge in W.P.(C)No.5326 of 2009 etc. pronounced on 27.6.2011. The High Court has held that DAV Public Schools operating in the State of Odisha, are although private unaided educational institutions, but are covered by the provisions of the Orissa Education Act, 1969 [hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act of 1969’] and hence the fees levied by such schools are subject to policy decisions of the State Government and their Managing Committee should conform to the requirements of the Act of 1969 read with relevant Rules of 1991. The fee structure revised by the concerned schools was not approved by the State Government and the High Court held against the appellant that revision of the fee structure could not be justified by the appellant that it is commensurate with the facilities provided to the students.

4. After extending the time granted to the Interim Committee for taking the required decision, this Court was ultimately informed by learned counsel for the State of Odisha that the Interim Committee was not in a position to analyse properly the financial implications/financial statements and other documents submitted by the DAV authorities and, therefore, this Court, by order dated 22.3.2013, deprecated the changing stand of the State of Odisha but accepted its prayer made in I.A. No.9 of 2013 and issued a fresh direction to the appellant to make an application for fixation of fee structure of the school before Fee Structure Committee, Odisha headed by Justice K.P. Mohapatra, Retired Judge of High Court of Orissa and the Committee was requested to submit its Report to this Court within a time frame. The Committee was allowed further time on 22.4.2013. The receipt of the Report from the Committee was noted by this Court on 8.5.2013 and order was passed to make available copy of the said Report to the Advocates on Record on both the sides.

12. Since the larger issue of law has been given up by the appellant and the same has been left open, we are not required to go into the same. In the facts of the case, we are re-assured by the Committee’s Report that the appellant and institutions represented by it have been allowed only reasonable profit to which they are entitled under law. Hence, it is directed that the appellant and the concerned educational institutions represented by it shall be entitled to revise their fee structure with immediate effect as per recommendations of the Fee Structure Committee, Odisha dated 2.5.2013. We further clarify that the existing Managing Committee as constituted under the CBSE bye-laws shall continue to manage the concerned schools. If the competent authority feels the necessity, it may proceed to make changes in the Managing Committee as per law and requirements of CBSE, after giving due notice and opportunity of hearing to the affected persons/Committee.

13. Before parting with the matter, we would like to caution the concerned authorities that if a private educational institution has met all the requirements of obtaining No Objection Certificate and affiliation etc. then its claim for revision of fees should be considered expeditiously on permissible parameters. Objections, if any, should be entertained only from the parents’ representatives and not from individual parents. An individual may at times be reckless and may harm the educational prospects of all the students of the school. If a claim for revision of fees is stalled for long due to meritless objections, it can affect academic standards on account of disgruntled staff and teachers who may even quit the institution for want of appropriate salary and perks. Such state of affairs with regard to the concerned schools has been highlighted on behalf of the appellant. The selected parents’ representatives, on the other hand, are expected to be more responsible as a body. In the present case, only some individual parents have prevented the schools from realising revised fees since 2009. It is not possible to assess the injury caused to the schools nor is it possible to award any compensation by allowing revised fees to be realised from any earlier date such as 1.6.2012 as prayed on behalf of the appellant. However, it is satisfying to note that the State of Odisha has not raised any objection to the recommendations of the Fee Structure Committee, Odisha and, therefore, there is no legal impediment of any substance in allowing this appeal. Contempt petitions and other pending petitions shall stand disposed of. The appeal is allowed as indicated above. No costs.

April 16, 2014.