Case Title: S Periyaraja vs The Principal Secretary
The division bench of Justice M Dhandapani and Justice R Vijayakumar of Madras High Court while dismissing the writ petition-imposed cost of Rs 25,000 on an advocate who challenged the private school’s vacation classes which was being conducted for students of class 10th and 12th by a private school.
“Accordingly, this Writ Petition is dismissed with costs of Rs.25,000/-(Rupees Twenty Five Thousand Only), payable to the Corporation Girls Higher Secondary School, Meenakshipuram, Tirunelveli, within a period of two weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. The said amount shall be used either for construction of a Toilet or for purchasing a Napkin Vending Machine. No Costs. Consequently, connected miscellaneous petition is closed”.
The petitioner submitted that the vacation is meant only for enjoyment of the school students and in the respondent school , the students are forced to come to the school premises for attending special classes.
While dismissing the petition the bench noted that the advocate had filed the writ petition only targeting the seventh respondent school and thus it is not a PIL (Public Interest Litigation).
“It is the parents 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 seventh respondent 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 seventh respondent school. Therefore, it is clear that it is not a Public Interest Litigation. Furthermore, 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 present writ petition is a motivated one. In view of the above, we are satisfied that this writ petition deserves to be dismissed with costs”.
