The fee department of the World Foundation School (WFS) Budgam has asked the parents to clear the pending dues saying that the J&K High Court has put the order of Fee Fixation and Regulation Committee (FFRC) for private school in abeyance.
Notably, the Chairman FFRC Justice (retd) Muzaffar Hussain Attar in an order issued in March this year had put a cap on the fee charged by the school and directed the school management to charge only Rs 3200 instead of Rs 6360.
The committee had said the analysis of financial statements submitted by the school shows no clarity regarding the expenses on account of branding, estates and student expenses as no details were provided under these expenditure heads.
“There is also a huge jump in expenditure on account of rent from zero on 31stMarch 2017 and Rs 2,79,27,031 in 2019-20,” the committee said in an order.
However, the school had challenged the order in the Court. Recently, the school management in a communication issued to parents has stated that the High Court has given audience to their plea and after going through their detailed submission and facts has put the FFRC order in abeyance.
“This means that the tuition fee will have to be paid as per already agreed terms between the parent and the school viz. Rs 6360 per month (with applicable concessions, if any, as per school policy),” the communication reads.
“In view of this and given the long delay, we now kindly request you to clear all the outstanding fees urgently,” it reads.
The school management has stated that clearing dues will help the school to pay out the pending salaries for the teachers and staff members as well as other mounting expenses to keep the school running.
“To help ease the burden we are pleased to inform you that Foundation World School will extend the 15 percent concession on tuition fees for the duration of the Online School mode during the current academic session,” the communication reads.
The school as per the communication has also agreed to extend an additional 5 percent concession for all Kindergarten classes (Nursery, LKG and UKG).
“This additional concession is effective for the current academic session till school resumes normal classes,” the communication reads.
The letter further reads that the concessions are only applicable if all the pending tuition fee due is cleared within a non-negotiable deadline of 30 days from the day this letter has been issued.
“Once again, we hope that you will support your child’s school by kindly clearing all the outstanding fees urgently. In case you are facing extreme financial impact due to the prevailing pandemic you are requested to kindly get in touch with our fee department,” it reads.
Notably, the school is run by a trust, which is charitable in nature, and is registered under section 12 A of the Income Tax Act, the committee said.
The order also stated that the settler of the trust was a father of the owner of the property who has leased out property to the trust.
“For initial years, zero rent has been paid and surprisingly it has jumped to almost 3 crore within two years. The veil has to be lifted to ascertain the true picture,” the committee in its order said.