HC grants 40% discount to girls who cannot afford school fees due to pandemic | Nagpur News

Nagpur: Coming to the rescue of a poor girl who got 85% in Std X, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay District Court ordered a reputable school group to immediately release her transfer certificate (TC) and her original scoring sheet. According to the petitioner, the documents had been withheld because her father, a flautist, had not paid the costs due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
While authorizing the 15-year-old girl’s plea filed through her father Babarao Bagde, a division bench made up of judges Sunil Shukre and Anil Kilor further asked Hiwri Nagar’s school to grant her a 40% reduction on fees.
The court, however, asked the girl’s father to deposit Rs 11,000 as the first installment of costs and offered him the option of paying the remaining amount within six months from the date of the judgment.
“The school administration will grant the applicant an appropriate discount on the unpaid amount of the fees that she will have to pay. This discount, in our opinion, cannot be less than 40% of the unpaid balance of the charges, as a special case. Given the facts and circumstances specific to this case, this concession will not be considered as a precedent for future cases, ”the magistrate said.
Petitioner Sharvari Bagde knocked on the door of the HC through her lawyer Gauri Venkatraman who informed that her school had refused to hand in her CT and grade sheet “on the grounds that she had not paid the fees “.
According to Venkatraman, management has also stopped its online classes for the same reason. The girl was forced to study on her own as she could not afford school fees due to her family’s poor financial situation which worsened after the pandemic, according to the petition.
The girl managed to score an impressive 85% on the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Std X examination and secured a place in a good college through the Common Admission Process (CAP). Although she was granted provisional admission, the college asked her to immediately submit the TC and the original scoring sheet.
Sharvari claimed his father played the flute in weddings for a living, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic his income ceased due to restrictions on office. She pointed out that even though they were facing severe financial constraints, her 52-year-old father would be able to afford the pay fees if he gave her some time.
Her father also offered to pay 11,000 rupees as a first installment and the rest in six months. He asked to adjust Rs18,000, taken on deposit by the school when his daughter was admitted to the Std I, against the unpaid fees.
The school administration assured the court that after receiving the first installment, it would release the TC, but the scoring sheet would be issued after receiving it from the CBSE. He also agreed to grant the petitioner an appropriate discount in view of the fact that her father is a “flute artist”.