HC notice to govt. for not notifying panel
Accusing the state government of deliberate delay in empowering
a Delhi high court-appointed panel tasked with carrying out audit of private schools,
a parents' association on Friday moved HC, seeking implementation of its orders.
The association blamed the government of being slack in notifying the committee,
and alleged that it had not even begun the job of providing the committee with manpower
to serve its purpose.
A division bench of Justice A K Sikri and Justice Siddharth Mridul issued notice
to the government, seeking its reply by September 9. Earlier, the same bench had
issued directions to set up a committee headed by former judge Anil Dev Singh to
audit the accounts of each of the schools to ascertain if the hike was required.
The bench authorized the committee to scrutinize the accounts of minority schools,
too. That order had come on a PIL, which alleged that despite CAG's indictment of
25 private schools for accounting malpractices, including faking losses, the city
government had allowed them to hike tuition fee.
"If the committee finds that the hike was not required, the schools are
bound to return the money to students with 9% interest," the bench had said in a
143-page verdict on August 12. The committee also comprises J S Kochar, a chartered
accountant, and an official from the Directorate of Education, to be nominated by
the Delhi chief secretary.
Courtesy: Times of India
