Government leaves SC/ST students in lurch

In a case relating to the ill-treatment of students from backward classes by private aided schools because the state has stopped reimbursing them, the Bombay high court was informed on Wednesday that the payments have been halted as it was found that the schools are fleecing the exchequer by submitting exorbitant bills. There are 1.15 lakh such students in the city.

A division bench was hearing a petition filed by Naresh Gosavi and other parents stating that since the government has failed to release grants under the free education scheme, the schools are not permitting children to attend classes.

An affidavit filed by Uttam Lonare, deputy director of the social welfare department (SWD), states that bills submitted by schools in Mumbai are inordinately higher than those of the rest 33 districts in the state.

A financial irregularity was noticed wherein Rs45 crore was released by some officials without the mandatory sanction of the social justice department (SJD), the affidavit states. An inquiry against these officers is in progress.

Following the irregularity, the secretary of the SJD, on April 4 last year, instructed that the government will not sanction reimbursement of higher fees.

Lonare in his affidavit said a committee of four secretaries was formed in February, which will take the final decision.

Lonare also stated that the education officer, Greater Mumbai, has directed school managements that no student can be stopped from attending school. He concluded that the government takes responsibility of reimbursing fees of schools which charge as per the laid down fee structure, but is not liable to pay higher fees.

Government pleader D Nalawade argued that after the irregularity was noticed in 2009, the figures for Greater Mumbai have come down to Rs16.17 lakh, from Rs670 lakh the year before. “We don’t want schools to profiteer while students in the rest of Maharashtra are deprived,’’ he said.

The petitioners’ advocate, Gayatri Singh, countered Nalawade’s argument by saying, “This [enquiry] is nothing but victimisation of lower rank officers because the bills were sanctioned by senior officers from the SWD in accordance with government resolution of 1976, by which the government is required to reimburse education expenses of backward category students.

“These reimbursements were suddenly stopped in 2007,’’ she added.

Nalavade submitted that the committee has proposed to fix the fees at the rate of Rs100 per student monthly for Std 1-4, Rs150 for Std 5-7 and Rs200 for Std 8-10, which will be put before the cabinet for approval.

Singh said that earlier each students were reimbursed between Rs300-500 per month, but after 2007, this was reduced to a mere Rs5-7 per student, and the government even began to retrospectively recover the ‘lost’ money from schools. The next hearing is on December 21.