Govt. seeks HC nod to set up panel to resolve school fee row

Wants proposed committee to be headed by retired High Court judge

The State government has sought permission from the High Court of Karnataka to set up a committee, headed by a retired judge of the High Court, to look into the issue of fixation of fee for all types of private schools in the State for the academic year 2021-22. The State government filed an application in this regard on the petitions filed by a large number of associations of private unaided schools challenging the Government Order of January 29, 2021, asking all private unaided schools, including those affiliated to ICSE and CBSE, to collect only 70% of the tuition fee, collected in 2019-20, for the academic year 2020-21 in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum, before whom the petitions filed by the schools came up for hearing on Monday, adjourned further hearing granting time to the petitioners to file their objections to the government’s proposal.