Schools Directed to Bear Cost of Air Conditioning Facility by HC

Parents must pay for air conditioning in schools, as it's an optional facility like laboratory fees. The court dismissed a PIL challenging the fee, stating that schools can't solely bear the cost and parents should consider facility costs when selecting schools. Despite complaints to the Directorate of Education, the court deemed the PIL not maintainable, highlighting that parents are responsible for covering the costs of such facilities.

The cost of air conditioning in school has to be borne by the parents as it is a facility being provided to the students, which is no different from the other charges such as laboratory fee, the Delhi High Court has said.

A bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Manmohan dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) against a private school charging Rs 2,000 per month for the air conditioning in classes and stated that such financial burden cannot be fastened on the school management alone and parents should be mindful of the facilities and their cost while selecting a school.

The petitioner, whose ward studied in class 9 in the private school, argued that the obligation to provide air conditioning facilities to the students rests with the management and it should, therefore, be provided by them from their own funds and resources.

Noting that the fee receipt duly records the entry of charges for air conditioning which is admittedly being provided to the students, the court opined that prima facie there is no irregularity in the charge levied by the school.

''The costs of air conditioning services provided to the children in the school have to be borne by the parents as it is a facility provided to the children and is no different from the other charges such as laboratory fee and smart class fee levied. The parents, while selecting the school, have to be mindful of the facilities and the cost of the facilities provided to children in school. ''The financial burden of providing such facilities cannot be fastened on the school management alone,'' the bench, also comprising Justice Manmeet PS Arora, said in an order passed on May 2.

The court observed that the Directorate of Education was also seized of the issue after it received complaints and the petition was not maintainable.

''We are, therefore, not inclined to entertain the present PIL and the same is dismissed,'' the court concluded.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)