Ensure fee regulation panel is functional during school admission season: Bombay HC to Maharashtra government

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday asked the state government to produce the notification issued by it for constituting a Divisional Fee Regulation Committee (DFRC) to adjudicate disputes between school management and Parent Teachers’ Association over school fees.

While appreciating the initiative of the state to readdress grievances of parents by forming the Divisional Complaint Redressal Committee, the court asked the government to ensure the fee regulation panel was actually functioning, otherwise, it would mean that a committee is formed with “no teeth”.

The division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Girish S Kulkarni also asked the state to produce on Thursday the government notification on the matter, failing which it would be constrained to seek the presence of the joint secretary of the department concerned to verify the information submitted in its affidavit in response to a PIL by BJP MLA from Kandivali (East) Atul Bhatkhalkar and others, seeking strict implementation of school fees law.