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Gandhi Sewa Sadan Rajsmand v. State of Rajasthan (part of the Indian School, Jodhpur batch)

Civil Appeal · 2021 INSC 281Decided 3 May 2021
Civil Appeal No. 1724 of 2021
Justice A.M. Khanwilkar · Justice Dinesh Maheshwari

Background

This diary number's appeal (Civil Appeal arising out of SLP(C) Nos. 27907-27916 of 2019, part of Civil Appeal Nos. 1713-1722 of 2021) was one of a large batch of tagged appeals by private unaided schools in Rajasthan, led by Indian School, Jodhpur. The first set challenged the constitutional validity of the Rajasthan Schools (Regulation of Fee) Act, 2016 and its Rules; a second set concerned a dispute over how much schools could charge in fees for the 2020-21 academic year, when schools were shut and running online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Supreme Court heard all these appeals together and disposed of them in one common judgment.

Decision Breakdown

The Court largely upheld the fee-regulation framework under the 2016 Act, reading down a few provisions rather than striking the law down, and rejected the broader constitutional challenge to the Act. For the COVID-19 batch, it ordered a uniform, one-time 15% deduction from the 2019-20 fee level (to account for facilities the schools did not provide during closure) for the 2020-21 year, directed that fees be collected in instalments, barred schools from withholding exam results or results of Classes X/XII, or debarring students, over unpaid fees, and directed the Rajasthan government to clear its own outstanding dues to the schools by the end of July 2021.

Lesson Learnt

Courts can resolve a mass dispute affecting many parties (here, hundreds of schools and lakhs of students/parents) through a single, calibrated, time-bound order that balances both sides' hardships, rather than ruling entirely for one side.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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