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Judgment reserved on 11.12.2024 Judgment delivered on 02.01.2025 I N THE HI GH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT NAI NI TAL HON’BLE SHRI JUSTI CE MANOJ KUMAR TI WARI , AND HON’BLE SHRI JUSTI CE PANKAJ PUROHI T Writ Petition (M/ S) No. 1656 of 2021 Welham Boys’ School Society & others ... Petitioners Versus State of Uttarakhand & another ...Respondents With Writ Petition (M/ S) No. 1664 of 2021 Present:-

Mr. Kanwaljeet Singh, Mr. Akshay Singh, Ms. Anjali Rana, Advocates for the petitioners.

Mr. P.C. Bisht, learned Additional C.S.C. for the State of Uttarakhand Dated: 02.01.2025 The Court made the following:

JUDGMENT:

(per Hon’ble Manoj Kumar Tiwari, J.)

JUDGMENT

1. Petitioners are Private Unaided Residential Schools. They have challenged Government Orders dated 15.01.2021 and 22.03.2021 issued by Uttarakhand Government.

2. Since common question of law and fact are involved in these petitions, therefore, they are being heard and decided together. However, for brevity, facts of Writ Petition (M/S) No.1656 of 2021 alone are being considered and discussed.

3. In Writ Petition (M/S) No.1656 of 2021, petitioners have sought the following relief:-

a. Issue writ of Certiorari quashing the government order dated 15.01.2021 (Annexure 1) & Government Order dated 22.03.2021 (Annexure 2) with the writ petition and may further be pleased to order that the Respondents have no authority or power to issue any order relating to school fees of private unaided residential schools.

4. The impugned Government Orders are enclosed as Annexure Nos.1 & 2 to the writ petition, which were issued in the backdrop of Pandemic caused by Covid-19 and the lockdown imposed in consequence thereof. The Government Order dated 15.01.2021 refers to order passed by this Court in Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1627 of 2020 and goes on to state that permission for resuming classes for students of 10^th and 12^th standard in physical mode has now been granted and full Fee shall be chargeable from students of these two classes from the date classes are opened in physical mode, however, for the period of Lockdown, when physical classes were not running, students would be liable to pay Tuition Fee only. In paragraph no.2 of said Government Order, it is provided that, for students other than those studying in 10^th and 12^th standard, permission for physical classes is not given and education is to be imparted through online mode, therefore, Schools shall charge only Tuition Fee from students, who are getting instructions through online mode.

5. Subsequent Government Order issued on 22.03.2021, also challenged in these writ petitions, refers to directions issued by this Court in Writ Petition (M/S) No.1627 of 2020 and Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1824 of 2020 and provides that since permission for running physical classes for students of 6^th, 7^th, 8^th, 9^th & 11^th standard is granted vide Government Order dated 08.02.2021, therefore, students studying in these classes will be liable to pay full Fee only from the date classes are resumed in physical mode and, for the period, when instructions were imparted through online mode, students would be liable to pay Tuition Fee only.

6. According to petitioners, the impugned orders are unsustainable, as State Government cannot determine the amount which a Private Unaided Residential School can charge as Fee from its students and interference made by the State Government is not only unwarranted; but, also without any authority of law. According to petitioners, there is no power available to State Government under Disaster Management Act, 2005 and Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 to regulate the Fee structure of Private Unaided Educational Institutions.

7. Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that, in the absence of any source of power, State Government cannot impose restrictions, as are imposed by the impugned Government Orders. He further submits that the amount payable as Fee for education of a child is determined by contract between the