No school can deny promotion to students over fee payment: Calcutta HC

The order directs schools not to deny promotion to any student to the next session or withhold report cards until further orders.

No school can deny promotion to students over fee payment, Calcutta High Court said while passing an order for all the 145 schools in West Bengal covered in a PIL over fees during the COVID pandemic. The order directs schools not to deny promotion to any student to the next session or withhold report cards until further orders. Recalling its earlier directions, the court said that all students will be allowed to join the higher class in the new sessions and will be provided normal educational facilities.

A division Bench comprising justices I P Mukerji and Moushumi Bhattacharya talked about a notice released by G D Birla Centre for Education stating "the school will re-open on Monday, 11.4.2022 for students who have cleared all dues." The Bench said the effect of this notification is that those students who have disputed the dues of the school would not be allowed to join classes.

The court not only ordered G D Birla Centre for Education to immediately withdraw the notice and allow the students to attend classes in the usual course but also asked all the schools to follow the directions in this order.

A body of parents also complained that numerous students have been debarred from joining classes on the ground that their fees remain unpaid.

The advocate for the school submitted that taking shelter behind the court's interim orders, some guardians were forwarding insignificant amounts as fees, much lower than what they paid in the last academic session, insisting that their wards be allowed to attend school.

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