Lockdown: Madras high court permits private educational institutions in Tamil Nadu to collect 40% fee as – Times of India

Madras high court

CHENNAI: The Madras high court on Friday permitted private educational institutions in Tamil Nadu to collect 40% of the annual fee before August 31 as ‘advance’. The court ordered that the annual fees fixed for 2019-20 will apply to 2020-21 also.
The institutions have also been permitted to collect last year’s arrears, if any, by September 30.
“The balance of 35% of the fees based on the tuition fees collected for the academic year 2019-2020, shall be collected within a period of two months from the date on which the institution is reopened and physical classes commences,” Justice N Anand Venkatesh said.
The state has provisionally fixed this year’s fee as 75% of last year’s.
The Tamil Nadu government has also been directed to immediately take into consideration the request made by the institutions to supply textbooks and notebooks to the students either free of cost or at some nominal rates to reduce the financial burden of parents.
The judge made it clear that teaching and nonteaching staff of such institutions shall not insist on any increment in salary or other entitlements until the restoration of normalcy.
The court noted that the interim order has been passed considering the present situation and in order to find an interim solution to clear the logjam and in order to balance the interest of all the stakeholders. It adjourned the hearing to October 5.
Justice Anand Venkatesh passed the orders on the batch of pleas moved by various associations of private educational institutions challenging the government order prohibiting them from demanding fees during lockdown.