The Bombay high court on Tuesday, while hearing a suo motu petition, issued notice to a private school in south Mumbai for expelling a boy without giving adequate reasons.
The Bombay high court on Tuesday, while hearing a suo motu petition, issued notice to a private school in south Mumbai for expelling a boy without giving adequate reasons. Expressing displeasure, the court observed that schools nowadays have become a money-spinning racket.
The division bench of Justice V.M. Kanade and Justice M.S. Sonak has taken cognisance of a letter by Santosh Mehta, the father of a 12-year-old boy, who was studying at HVB Global Academy School in Marine Lines. Mr Mehta claimed the school expelled his son as he had objected to it charging Rs 52,000 for uniforms and stationery.
During the hearing, the court observed that schools these days are taking law into their own hands. The court was informed that Mr Mehta had approached the school to enrol his son in class 7. According to the letter, the school initially quoted a fee of '1,09,500, which he paid. However, later the school demanded Rs 52,000 in cash for uniform, schoolbooks, bags and stationery. “When I objected to this, the school authorities started threatening my family and me,” the letter states.
Mr Mehta also alleged that the school authorities threatened his wife into signing a blank paper based on which the school issued a transfer certificate and expelled his son. “I approached the office of the Commissioner of Protection of Child Rights Maharashtra and the deputy director of education. The latter, in February this year, directed the school principal to reinstate my child, but when I sent my son to school, the security guards refused to allow him in,” the letter alleged.
The high court issued a notice to the school so that it could hear what it had to say and posted the matter for hearing on July 11.
The bench has appointed advocate Jamshed Mistry as amicus curiae to assist the court in this matter. The court has directed government pleader Abhinandan Vagyani to look into the matter and take instructions from the education officer or another competent authority.
