Waiver Of Tuition Fees: HC Serves Notice On Odisha, CBSE And ISCE

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court had Wednesday served notices on the Centre, Odisha government, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), seeking a reply from them in connection with the waiver of the tuition and other institutional fees for the whole academic session.

The court, while admitting a public interest litigation (PIL) by the chairman of the Odisha Abhibhabav Mahasangh Basudeb Bhatt, directed the CBSE, ICSE and the secretary, School and Mass Education Depart to provide the ID and password to the students and allow them to pursue their online education though they have not paid the fees for four months.

The court posted the next hearing of hearing for May 26.

Notably, the petitioner had prayed the court to direct the aforesaid authorities to waive the school and other institutional fees for four months due to the closure of schools in the wake of the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). He had also urged the court to direct them to make specific provisions for a complete waiver of fees for the whole academic session.