Private unaided schools are not amenable to the writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution as such schools cannot be regarded as authorities within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution. However, when a charge of exorbitant fees has been brought in a scenario where there is no physical conduct of classes but the fees are not reduced, Article 30(1) of the Constitution is not a defense to stop the writ court from assessing the reasonableness of the fees charged.

JUDGMENT

Sanjib Banerjee, J. - An invisible virus, that has threatened the dominant species on the planet and has spawned an array of bewildering reactions across diverse spheres of life, has also made sure that it leaves its impact in the judicial arena. From bringing to life the act-of-God clause that was mostly regarded as a redundant appendage in contracts to redefining the rules of human engagement, the pandemic has almost been all pervasive. The present lis is born in its wake: upon a unique situation arising where students have been kept away from academic institutions for months together, prompting their parents or guardians to question why regular fees ought to be paid in such a scenario. These five petitions canvass a point of public interest that private unaided schools across the State should allow substantial concession in fees as the physical conduct of classes has not been possible for more than six months and normal functioning may not resume in a full-fledged manner for several months more.

2. The lead petition is WPA 5890 of 2020. In due course the other petitions, though filed earlier, have been heard together. In the principal matter, parents or guardians of students of about 145 schools, mostly in an around the city, have joined together to suggest that these private institutions cannot be allowed to make merry and charge the usual fees despite no classes being conducted for a considerable period and, thereafter, classes being resumed on the online mode in some cases with very limited resources being used by the schools. The parents or guardians complain of profiteering by the schools by unjustly enriching themselves even as several of the schools have terminated the services of several of the usual employees or have not paid the teachers in full and not incurred the normal expenses needed to physically operate such schools.

3. Most of the schools say that they have retained all the teachers and have paid their salaries. Some of the schools go even as far as to suggest that they have enhanced the salaries of the teaching staff pursuant to the Central or State recommendations as adopted by such schools. Almost all the schools represented contend that they have not removed any regular employee from the payrolls; and some even claim that the contractual staff have also been retained and paid during the lockdown.

4. Some six or seven of the schools, particularly the institutions controlled by the Church of North India and another which claims to be a linguistic minority educational institution, have objected to the court seeking to interfere into their affairs. They suggest that not only do they enjoy a special status accorded by Article 30(1) of the Constitution but they are also protected under Article 19 of the suprema lex. Several Anglo-Indian schools and a handful of other so-called minority institutions have jumped on the bandwagon to not only assert their right to independent management of their educational bodies but also to question the propriety on the part of the court in entertaining any grievance against them in the jurisdiction available under Article 226 of the Constitution.

5. In the same breath, it must be acknowledged that several other prominent schools submit that they are entitled to question the maintainability of the proceedings, but refrain from doing so in the larger interest of the students and their parents or guardians so that a workable solution can be forged. Even the objecting schools, without any exception, have offered to consider individual cases of financial hardship in a humane manner and allow the maximum concession - but on a case-to-case basis - as the relevant school''s finances and resources would warrant. By and large, the schools indicate that they have not taken the ultimate drastic measure of excluding students from the limited online classes now conducted, though no fees may have been tendered on behalf of several students for the period beginning April, 2020. Some