Pushpa Sathyanarayana ORDER
Sanjay Kishan Kaul, C.J.
1. The petitioner, an unaided private minority school, seeks to lay a challenge to the Memorandum bearing No. 09/DSE/EE/FC/2015 dated 19.08.2015 issued by the third respondent/Fee Committee of the Directorate of School Education, Government of Puducherry alleging that the said Memorandum and the amendments made to the Puducherry School Education (Amendment) Rules, 2014 are ultra vires the Parent Act i.e., the Puducherry School Education Act, 1987 (for short "the said Act) and violative of Articles 14 & 19(1) (g) of the Constitution of India.
2. The petitioner-school is stated to be recognized under the said Act and the Rules of 1996 are applicable. The petitioner-school is not receiving any aid from the Government of Puducherry nor does it collect any donations from the students, as stated. The students are hailing from middle and lower middle class families and only nominal fee is stated to be charged from the students.
3. Despite the aforesaid, in view of the location of the petitioner-school in the heart of Puducherry Town, as also the large extent of land, coupled with spacious modern buildings, infrastructure facilities and encouragement to extracurricular activities, is producing desired results with efficient and dedicated teachers. The pay scales of the regular staff are stated to be at par with the Central Government employees and are revised as per the Central Government Pay Commission Recommendations.
4. The petitioner claims that in the absence of any donations, and in view of the nominal fee, in order to have appropriate infrastructure, a loan to the tune of Rs. 9.15 Crores was availed by the petitioner from State Bank of India, and the interest relevant being paid on the same itself is to the tune of Rs. 1.08 crores.
5. Now turning to the Act in question, it is stated that the same was enacted to provide for better organization and development of school education in the Union Territory of Puducherry and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. An 'aided school' is defined under Section 2(c) of the said Act to mean a recognized school, which is receiving any aid in the form of maintenance grant from the Central Government or the State Government or a local authority etc. Sub-clause (m) defines 'minority school' to mean a private school of its choice established and administered, by any such minority whether based on religion or language. Such a minority school, as per Section 10 of the said Act, is required to send a statement to the Government. The said Section reads as under:--
"10(1) Every minority school in existence immediately before the date of the commencement of this Act shall send to the appropriate authority a statement containing the particulars specified in clause (c) excluding sub-clause(ii) thereof of subsection (2) of Section 5 within such time as may be prescribed.
(2) Every minority school established and administered after the date of the commencement of this Act shall send to the appropriate authority a statement containing particulars specified in clause (c) of sub-section (2) of Section 5 within such time as may be prescribed. "
6. Chapter VI of the Act deals with admission to schools and fees. Subsection (3) of Section 26 reads as under:--
"Admission to a recognized school or to any class thereof shall be regulated by rules made in this behalf."
7. In so far as charging of fees and other charges is concerned, Section 27 reads as under:--
"(1) No aided school shall levy any fee or collect any other charge or receive any other payment except those specified by the Director.
(2) Every aided school having different rates of fees or other charges or different funds shall obtain prior approval of the prescribed authority before levying such fe........