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TMI Blog2017 (7) TMI 1459X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hri Arvind G. Kothari, learned counsel for the Petitioners. Mr. C.P. Yadav for Respondent - State in Writ Petition No. 7594 of 2017 and Mr. Abhay Patki, AGP for State - Respondents Nos. 1, 3 and 4. 5. Shri Samdhani learned senior counsel submits that under the provisions of the said Act, it is only the management who is entitled to approach the DFRC. It is submitted that individual parents have no locus to file proceedings under the provisions of the said Act. Shri Samdhani learned senior counsel submits that the DFRC is the tribunal constituted under the provisions of said Act. It is submitted that a tribunal of a limited jurisdiction constituted under the provisions of a statute can exercise the powers only within the parameters as laid down by the statute. It is submitted that the tribunal cannot assume jurisdiction, which is not vested in it under the provisions of the statute. Shri Samdhani, therefore, submits that the impugned order which is passed by the DFRC in a proceeding initiated at the instance of the individual parents is not sustainable in law and the orders passed therein are liable to be quashed and set aside. Shri Samdhani further relying on the well settled prin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to decide the matter on the basis of scheme as provided in the said enactment. It further appears that under the rule making powers provided under the said Act, the State of Maharashtra has framed the Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Regulation of Fee) Rules 2016, (hereinafter referred as to "Rules"). It appears that some of the parents had made complaint to Respondent No. 3, Deputy Director of Education with regard to increase of fees by the Petitioner - management. The Respondent No. 3 - Deputy Director of Education vide letter dated 2nd June 2016 informed the Petitioners that upon inquiry into allegations made regarding increase in fees, allegations were found to be without substance. 11. However, it appears that subsequently, the Respondent No. 1 on the basis of the complaints made by the Respondent Nos. 4 & 5 issued a notice to the Petitioners on 5th May 2017, vide which the complainants as well as the present Petitioners were directed to remain present for the hearing on 16th May 2017. Both the parties were also directed to produce relevant documents before the committee. It appears that thereafter the Respondent No. 1 heard the Petitioners as well as the Respondents N ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rm fee, which shall not exceed one month tuition fee per term; (iii) Library fee and deposit; (iv) Laboratory fee and deposit; (v) Gymkhana fee; (vi) Caution money; (vii) Examination fee; (viii) Hostel fee and Mess charges; (ix) Admission fee; Explanation - Where the student is admitted into the school having the facility to undertake education upto the tenth standard or any standard below it, the student shall not be required to pay the admission fee once again; (x) deposit as security amount or amount payable for any curricular or co-curricular item as may be prescribed; Sections 3, 4 & 6 read thus:- Section 3 No school itself or on its behalf shall collect any fee in excess of the fee fixed or approved under this Act. Section 4(1)(a) Every private school shall constitute the Parent-Teachers Association. (b) The Parent-Teachers Association shall be formed by the head of the school within thirty days from the beginning of each academic year. Parent of every student in the school shall be a member of the Parent-Teachers Association and an annual amount of rupees fifty, in case of urban area and rupees twenty, in case of rural area, shall be collected fro ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... etent to propose the fees in such schools. (2) On the formation of the Executive Committee, the management of the school shall submit the details of the proposed fee along with the relevant record to the Executive Committee for its approval at least six months before the commencement of the next academic year. While giving the approval, the Executive Committee shall have the authority to decide the amount of fee afresh. (3) After considering all the relevant factors laid down under section 9, the Executive Committee shall approve the fees within a period of thirty days from the date of receipt of the details of the proposed fee and the record under sub-section (2) and communicate the details of the fee so approved in writing to the management forthwith. The details of the fee so approved by the Executive Committee shall be displayed on the notice board in Marathi, English and in the respective medium of school, and if such school has its own website, it shall be displayed on the same, and it shall be binding for two academic years. (4) If the Executive Committee fails to decide the fees within the period specified in sub-section (3), the management shall immediately refer the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on. (2) The Divisional Fee Regulatory Committee shall consist of the following members, namely (3) Every appointment of a member under clauses (c) and (d) of sub-section (2) shall be made by the State Government on the recommendation of the Selection Committee. (4) The State Government shall constitute a Selection Committee for the Divisional Fee Regulatory Committee consisting of the following namely:- Provided that, where the Chairperson of the Revision Committee is, by reason of absence or otherwise, unable to act as a Chairperson of the Selection Committee, the Chairperson acting as such under the proviso to sub-section (2) of Section 11 shall act as a Chairperson. Sections 9 & 10 of the said Act read thus:- Section 9(1) The following factors shall be considered while deciding the fee leviable by the school, namely:- (a) the location of the school; (b) the infrastructure made available to the students for the qualitative education, the facilities provided and as mentioned in the prospectus or website of the school; (c) the educational standard of the school as the State Government or the competent authority may prescribe; (d) the expenditure on administratio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on oath; (ii) the discovery and production of any document; (iii) the reception of evidence of affidavits; (iv) the issue of commission for examination of the witness. (4) No judicial order shall be passed by the Divisional Fee Regulatory Committee in the absence of the Chairperson. The order of the Divisional Fee Regulatory Committees shall be binding on the parties to the proceedings before it for two academic years. It shall not be called in question in any civil Court except by way of an appeal before the Revision Committee constituted under this Act. (5) At the time of resolving the dispute, the Divisional Fee Regulatory Committee shall not grant any interim stay to the fee determined by the school management. ON decision in appeal or reference, the Divisional Fee Regulatory Committee may pass appropriate orders for refund the excess fee to such student, the Divisional Fee Regulatory Committee shall proceed to recover such excess fee from the management as an arrears of land revenue and pay the same to such student. (6) The Divisional Fee Regulatory Committee shall on determining the fee leviable by a private school, communicate its decision to the parties concern ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... heduled Caste, the Scheduled Tribes or Backward Class citizens to be rotated in the manner prescribed and at least fifty per cent of the members shall be women. The list of members of the Executive Committee shall be displayed on the notice board within a period of fifteen days from formation of the Executive Committee of the Parent Teachers Association. The term of the Executive Committee of the Parent Teachers Association shall be for one academic year. Clause (f) requires that the Parent - Teachers Association shall have a general meeting at least once before the 15th August of every year. 15. Section 6 of the said Act is a most relevant provision, upon interpretation of which provision, the fate of the present Petition will have to be decided. Sub-Section (1) of Section 6 provides that, the Management of the private un-aided schools and permanently un-aided schools shall be competent to propose the fees in such schools. Sub-Section (2) requires that, on the formation of the Executive Committee, the management of the school shall submit details of the proposed fee along with a relevant record to the Executive Committee for its approval at least six months before the commencemen ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... b-Section (c) empowers the DFRC to pass appropriate orders of refund of the excess fee to the student concerned. DFRC also empowers to recover such excess fee from the management as arrears of land revenue and pay the same to such student. 18. Sub-section (d) provides that decision of DFRC in appeal or reference shall be displayed on the notice board of the concerned school, and on its website if such school has its own website. 19. Section 7 enable the management or Executive Committee which is aggrieved by decision of the DFRC to prefer a further appeal before the DFRC in such manner as prescribed. This section also deals with the constitution of the DFRC, since there is no dispute regarding the same, reference to the same would not be necessary. 20. Section 8 deals with the term of office of Chairperson and other members of the DFRC and therefore, reference to the same is also not necessary in the present lis. Section 9 is important section in as much as it lays down guidelines for determining the fee leviable by a school. It requires various factors like, location of the school, infrastructure made available to the students for the qualitative education and the facilities, t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r 4 of the said Act deals with offences and penalties. Section 17 provides as to what shall be the offences. Rule 9 of the said Rules deals with the procedure to prefer a proposal to DFRC under Section 6 of the Act. The provisions herein are almost similar with what has been provided in Section 6 of the said Act. 22. It could thus be seen that, the said Act is complete code in itself. It provides as to in what manner the fees will be first determined by the management and thereafter approved by the Executive Committee, which has to be constituted as per provisions of the Act, what would be the effect of the difference in fees as approved by the management and approved by the Executive Committee. It provides a remedy to the management to approach DFRC in case the Executive Committee fails to decide the matter within the period prescribed in sub-section (3) of Section 6. Sub-Section (5) mandates the management to accept the approval by the Executive Committee, if the difference between the proposal of the management and decision of the Executive Committee is not more than 15%. Only if the difference is more than 15%, the management is entitled to prefer an appeal to the DFRC. A furt ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of verbatim verification would not only avoid undue problems for the employer but would also virtually eliminate subjectivity on the part of the employer. 24. It could thus be seen that it is more than well settled principle of law that when a statute requires a particular thing to be done in a particular manner, it is to be done in that manner alone or not at all. Undisputedly, DFRC is a creation of the said Act and at the most can be construed to be a statutory tribunal constituted under the said enactment. It will be relevant to mention the observations of the Their Lordships of the Apex Court in the case of Vatticherukuru Village Panchayat Vs. Nori Venkatarama Deekshithulu & Ors. 1991 Supp (2) Supreme Court Cases 228 which read thus:- 23. The jurisdiction of a Tribunal created under statute may depend upon the fulfillment of some condition precedent or upon existence of some particular fact. Such a fact is collateral to the actual matter which the Tribunal has to try and the determination whether it existed or not is logically temporary prior to the determination of the actual question which the Tribunal has to consider. At the inception of an enquiry by a Tribunal of limit ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s only the management, who has a right to file a first appeal before the Divisional Committee in case the management is aggrieved by the decision of DFRC. It is only the second appeal as provided under sub-section 7 of Section 6, wherein right is given to file appeal by the Management as well as Executive Committee before Revision Committee, if either of them is aggrieved by decision of Divisional Committee. It could thus be seen that the perusal of the scheme would reveal that the statute does not provide for initiation of proceedings before DFRC, at the behest of individual parents. 26. No doubt that, the learned counsel for Respondents are contending that in view of powers under Section 10, all questions between the school management and PTA regarding the fee are to be determined by the DFRC. The learned counsel urged us to accept the said interpretation by placing reliance on preamble of the Act. No doubt that, Sub-Section 1 of Section 10 provide that powers and functions of DFRC shall be to adjudicate the dispute between the school management and the PTA regarding fee to be charged by the school management from the students. However, a particular sections of statute cannot be ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rty would either have to invoke the jurisdiction of the Civil Court, if the association is not registered or if it is registered under the provisions of the Maharashtra Public Trust Act, then the competent authority under the said Act. We find that the direction issued in that regard by the Respondent No. 1, is also without jurisdiction. 29. We have no hesitation in accepting the arguments of the Respondents - Parents that the said enactment has been enacted with the avowed object of prohibiting exploitation of the parents. However, though we may hold that the contention of the Respondents Parents is correct in that regard. In the exercise of our powers under Article 226, that we have with us, we cannot go beyond the provisions of the statute. If the parents find that there any lacunas in the enactment which come in the way of achieving its object then it is only the legislature who can step in and cure the defects in the enactment. We find that if we accept the arguments as advanced by the Respondents - Parents, it would be amounting to taking over the legislative functions ourselves and providing in the statute what was not provided by the legislature. 30. In the result, both t ..... 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