Private schools cannot withhold Transfer Certificate over outstanding fees, rules Delhi High Court

In a landmark judgement, the Delhi High Court (Chief Justice Bench) on Thursday ruled that private schools cannot withhold issuance of the Transfer Certificate (TC) over non-payment of outstanding school fees. The court directed Kulachi Hansraj Model School, Ashok Vihar, to issue TC to the parents of nine-year-old Kartik of Class 3 and five-year-old Priyansh of pre-primary class, within a week.

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These orders came on a letter dated April 30, 2019, received by the court that was converted as a PIL at its own motion, which narrated the plight of  Kartik and Priyansh who were unable to take admission in other schools because of the fact that their school refused to issue TC on account of non-payment of Rs 1,00,331.

Advocate Ashok Agarwal who was appointed as Amicus Curie to assist the court argued that under Rule 167 of Delhi School Education Rules, 1973, a school can strike-off the name of a student from the rolls of the school for non-payment of fees but a school cannot refuse TC for non-payment of outstanding school fees. Accepting the arguments of  Agarwal, the court passed its orders.