Madras High Court: In a writ petition filed for directing the State to institute appropriate legal actions against the Correspondent, Jose Matriculation Higher Secondary School (‘School'), for compelling students of classes 10th and 12th for the academic year 2023-2024 to attend the special classes throughout the month of May 2023 in their school premises physically, the division bench of M. Dhandapani* and R. Vijayakumar while terming the present writ petition as a motivated one, dismissed the same. Further, it imposed a cost of Rs.25,000/- on the petitioner, payable to the Corporation Girls Higher Secondary School within a period of two weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. Also, it said that the amount shall be used either for construction of a Toilet or for purchasing a Napkin Vending Machine.
The petitioner submitted that the school is unethically conducting classes for 10th and 12th standard students during May 2023. He further submitted that the vacation is meant only for enjoyment of the school students along with their parents and for stress relief. Nowadays, advanced technologies are available for conducting on-line classes. However, in the respondent school, the students are forced to come to the school premises to attend special classes and to pay fees also. If the same is allowed to continue, the students cannot be able to maintain their mental stability.
The Court said that it is aware that the special classes are being conducted in respect of 10th and 12th standard with the consent of the parents. It is the parents who have to decide whether their children have to attend the special classes or not. The petitioner being an advocate is not an aggrieved person by the conduct of special classes by the school. Further, there are several schools conducting special classes all over the Tamil Nadu. However, the petitioner has filed this writ petition only targeting the respondent school. Therefore, it is clear that it is not a Public Interest Litigation.
Further, the Court remarked that several coaching classes are being conducted for the 12th standard students to train them to write the competitive examinations like NEET, JEE, CLAT etc. Hence, the while terming the present writ petition as a motivated one, dismissed the same.
[S.Periyaraja v The Principal Secretary, 2023 SCC OnLine Mad 3313, Order dated 04-05-2023]
*Order by: Justice M. Dhandapani
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For Petitioner : Advocate B.N.Raja Mohamed
For Respondents : Additional Government Pleader K.S.Selvaganesan,