A division bench of Justice M B Ghodeswar and Justice B N Srikrishna in an interim order today held that the school was being managed by the same trust, and directed that all the students of the petitioners be admitted by the school run by the trust. The division bench also directed an investigation into the fee structure of the school, but suggested that the state government, whichdoes not regulate this sector of education, set up a committee to draw out a fee structure for all the pre-primary schools in the state.

During the hearing of the case last week, Justice Srikrishna had remarked that the fees of the pre-primary section also come within the purview of section 4 (iii) of the Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Prohibition of Capitation Fees) Act, 1987, also known as the Capitation Fee Act, which says that any amount collected by educational institutions, including nurseries and balwadis, over and above the prescribed fee structure would be considered as a capitation fee. ``Just because you do not have a prescribed fee, it does not mean that the pre-primary schools can charge any amount,'' he had remarked. Today's recommendation to the state government is along the same lines.

For the moment, the parents will be taking admission in the school by June 30, paying an ad hoc fee of Rs 6,000. If the state finds that the fee is less than appropriate, the fees will be hiked, andif more, then the parents will be liable for a refund. The state has been given two months, till August 31 to file their report.

The intense legal battle had its moment of high drama, when Justice Srikrishna remarked in the open court today that somebody called `Mohan' had on telephone tried to influence him in the case. Justice Srikrishna warned against such an action. The advocate for the management of the school, Husaini Doctor apologised to the bench, but denied that his clients would do such a thing.

The petitioners were represented by senior counsel M P Vashi who used class photographs, school badges, progressive reports of the children to prove that the same P G Garodia Charitable Trust which was earlier running the Firstep Nursery had changed the school name to the new PG Academy. There are around 150 students in the nursery and 200 students in the junior and senior KG in the last academic year, in the school called Firstep Nursery. According to the petitioners, the students were admitted to thenursery classes by paying a sum of Rs 20,000 as capitation fees.

No receipts were issued. However, for the present academic term, the petitioners claimed that an unsigned circular was issued on April 1, 1999 saying parents of the promoted students will need to pay Rs 4,000 as a deposit, Rs 4,000 for advertisements in the souvenir and fees for the first term, Rs 5,000. While the earlier two could be paid by cheque, the school insisted that the last amount of Rs 5,000 be paid by cash only. Hearing this, Justice Srikrishna had remarked, ``Black or white?'' to laughter in the courtroom.

Rejecting the demands of the school, the parents formed an Action Committee which met authorities on April 4. They pointed out that they had already paid Rs 20,000 and there was no reason for paying an extra Rs 4,000 as deposit money. On April 12, the school issued another notice saying if the petitioners did not admit their wards by April 15, their names would be struck off the register. The petitioners then approached HighCourt with their grievances. However, in the course of the hearing of the matter, the trust claimed that they were not running the school any longer and in fact the name of the school had changed as well.