Observing that schools should not attempt to play with the future of children and create tense situations for their parents, the High Court of Karnataka on Friday imposed an exemplary cost of ₹1 lakh on Brigade School, Malleswaram in Bengaluru, for the delay in complying with the court’s order for allowing a girl student to attend classes and for depriving classes for a period of more than 50 students of class IX.
“This must be a signal and message to society and even for other schools not to make any attempt to play with the future of children and create a tense situation for their parents,” the court said while directing the school to pay ₹1 lakh to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund within two weeks.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Prasanna B. Varale and Justice Krishna S. Dixit, while closing a contempt of court petition filed by a parent of one the students of class IX, who expressed concern over the denial of permission to attend classes not only for the petitioner but also for a large number students.
Root of dispute
The school had initiated some action against the petitioner’s daughter alleging that certain behaviour was against the ethos of the school and asked her father to pay a fine of ₹10,000 even before the conclusion of an inquiry. As the school denied entry to the student till the payment of the fine, the father filed a writ petition and a judge on December 5, 2023, directed the school to allow her to attend all the academic activities.
Despite communicating the court’s order through email on December 6, the school did not permit her to attend the classes till December 14 and permitted entry only on December 15 on the pretext that it received the court’s order only on December 14. Meanwhile, the girl’s father filed the contempt of court petition.
Meanwhile, the Bench took serious exception to the language used by the principal of the school in his affidavit in the contempt petition and also found that there was no reference on anguish expressed orally by the Bench during earlier hearing.
The Bench had expressed its anguish that not only the petitioner’s daughter but more than 50 students of class IX were denied permission to attend classes for a long period and their parents were asked to sign an undertaking as a condition to allow their wards to attend the classes.
However, the school’s advocate on Friday assured the Bench that compensatory classes and tests would be conducted for all the students who were not allowed to attend the classes and there would not be any hinderance for them to attend the classes.
Emphasising the importance of study in class IX, a foundation for class X, the Bench said that Brigade School “created an unfortunate situation and subjected both the students and their parents to a tense, anxious and uncertain situation”.
