The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain Plea filed by ‘Justice For Rights Foundation’ seeking directions to States/ UTs pertaining to private and public college for providing relief, waive off, or moratorium on academic fees for the next semester and restrict them from asking lump sum amount from students.
A three-judge Bench of Justice Ashok Bhushan, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice B.R. Gavai heard the matter through video conferencing, said the court was not inclined to entertain the matter and dismissed the petition.
The Petition was filed by Satyam Singh Rajput, National Founder, Justice for Rights Foundation, Advocate Amit Kumar Sharma, Supreme Court, Prateek Sharma student activist Delhi University and Diksha Dadu, a law student approached Supreme Court to waive off the fees in the private college and university and drafted by Advocate Deeksha Singh.
The Justice for Right Foundation which is a Non-Governmental Organization constituted as per the provision contained in the Societies Registration Act, 1860 had filed the writ petition before the Apex Court on the due payment of semester (bi-annual) fees for public and private colleges, whereby the petitioner said that students and parents are not in the appropriate financial condition to make such payments either due to loss of wages or deduction of wages which is coupled with financial hardship that students and parents currently face and therefore to compel either students and/or parents to provide for fees for the upcoming semester would further dire their current financial situation. The respondents in the petition were the Central Government along with State/ UTs Governments.
“Moreover, the present demand by the educational institutions forces parents and students to choose between basic essential commodities required to survive lockdown and to effectively exercise their right to uninterrupted education. That the Respondents in wake of such financial discomfort and mental trauma decided to issue notifications and orders declaring the payment of fees at the discretion of the parents and that the institution cannot force or hike the fees for the same. However, no such order has been passed for colleges and universities which is equally important for smooth continuation for college students. Further, right to education can only have effective meaning if it is read as a right to continuous and uninterrupted education, the reality alsoremains that many students and parents are supporting their educational endeavors by educational or friendly loans, which further add to the burden”, said the petition.
-India Legal Bureau