In a representation to Sanskriti School, parents have demanded an immediate rollback of the fee hike, which is ‘exorbitant for everyone’ and particularly ‘for honest civil servants’.

New Delhi: Parents, many of who are civil servants, of several students studying in Delhi’s prestigious Sanskriti School have demanded a CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) audit of the school’s accounts after the institute announced a fee hike.

In a representation made to principal Richa Sharma Monday, almost 50 parents, including several senior civil servants, have said the recent fee hike by the school is “prohibitively exorbitant for everyone and particularly so for honest civil servants”.

ThePrint has accessed the four-page representation.

As reported by ThePrint, the school, through a circular dated 30 March, announced a fee hike of over 50 per cent citing “financial difficulties” because of increasing the salary of the staff in accordance with the 7th Pay Commission.

ThePrint contacted principal Sharma via email, but there was no response until the time of publishing of this report.

When ThePrint contacted the institute’s middle-school in-charge Abha Malik, she said she was not authorised to comment on the issue.

Also read: If an ‘honest govt’ is in power in Delhi, private schools can’t arbitrarily hike fees: Kejriwal

‘Discrepancies in school accounts’

The representation listed several alleged discrepancies in the accounts of Sanskriti School and stated that the issue of fee hike is still sub-judice.

The reasons cited as the basis for the fee hike are all under the consideration of the Delhi High Court, the representation stated.

“By hiking the fees vide letter dated 30.03.2020 the school has in a way taken away the right to decide from the court and shifted the entire burden on the parents,” it said.

In January, the Delhi High Court, while hearing a plea by teachers of Sanskriti School — who had alleged that the school was not paying them in accordance with the 7th Pay Commission — directed the Delhi government to decide on the permission to be granted to the school to hike fees.

The court also appointed a chartered accountant to audit the accounts of the school.

In 2019, the teachers had moved the court demanding a hike in their salaries.

Alleging discrepancies in the school’s funding declarations to the court, the representation further said, “The school has… mentioned before the high court that no grant has been received by the Society in the last five years, except for a grant of ₹18,14,000/- by ONGC.”

The society that has been mentioned in the representation is the Civil Services Society and the school is its “enterprise and endeavour”, according to the school’s website.

The Society was formed by the wives of civil servants belonging to the various branches of the central government.

“But a perusal of Chapter 18 of the Annual Report for the year 2015-16 of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Government of India reveals that the budget provision of the Ministry includes expenditure on grants-in-aid assistance to Sanskriti School,” according to the representation.

It also stated the “DoE (Directorate of Education) audit, which is the basis of the hike, is not on firm-footing because in the past the school’s audit has been found wanting as detailed in the report of Justice Anil Dev Singh Committee for Review of School Fee, which had… concluded that the school had diverted funds to its parent society and had ultimately directed the school to refund the money taken as part of the fee hike.”

It is also alleged that discrepancies have been found by the high court in some accounts mentioned by the school before an independent auditor and in the affidavit given by the school before the court.

“In such a scenario, unless there is an independent, objective and impartial audit under the aegis of CAG, involving the parents, no other audit should be made a basis for fee hike,” according to the representation.

‘Immediate rollback’

Given the alleged discrepancies in the accounts of the school and the “rude shock” of the fee hike during a pandemic in the country, the representation stated: “This decision violates the very raison de’tre behind setting up such a school by the Civil Services Society.”

It further stated that Sanskriti School represents the “welfare state”, since the DoPT (Department of Personnel and Training) is its nodal department, and that it was provided land at a concessional rate.

“The Civil Services Society received grants and donations (upto 31.03.2011) amounting to Rs 25.71 crore from various ministries, departments and undertaking of Government of India and various state governments, and the chairperson of its Managing Committee is the wife of the Cabinet Secretary, Government of India — it has a greater responsibility to ensure quality education,” according to the representation.

The representation concluded with the demand of an immediate rollback of the fee hike, and “getting a detailed voucher-level audit of the school’s and Societies’ accounts by the CAG involving a few parents who are well-versed with such matters”.

Also read: What the Delhi school education model is and why Maharashtra is looking to emulate it

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