Kalyan school sends protesting parent Rs 25 Lakh defamation notice

Rameshwar Dhakorkar

A fee hike row between parents and a Kalyan school just got ugly. On July 15, the DS Desai School in Kalyan asked Rameshwar Dhakorkar, father of two children studying in the school, to pay Rs 25 lakh for defaming it.

While he alleges that the school is taking revenge from him for fighting against it over an illegal fee hike, the school claims that he used media and other platforms to spoil its reputation.

Written apology
According to the legal notice sent to Dhakorkar, he has been asked to submit a written apology to the school trust and pay Rs 25 lakh. If he fails to give the money within 15 days, the matter will be dragged to court and he will have to bear 18 per cent interest on the demanded amount.

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"Dhakorkar has made a false complaint against the school in the [Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation's] education department and the child rights commission. He also used the media and influenced other parents against the school. On July 14, the child rights commission dismissed his case, after which we have sent him the notice," said the school's advocate Ganesh Gholap,

Dhakorkar has not paid fees for a year to protest the hike. He claims the school is charging twice as much as it should. He had lodged a complaint in the child rights commission in May as the school had held back the results of his two children.

"The school held back my children's results for almost two months after they were declared, so I approached the commission. In the meantime, the school gave us the result before the date of the hearing [with the commission]," said Dhakorkar, who had also lodged complaint against the school for hiking the fees.

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He added, "From 2012 to 2016, as the Parent-Teacher Association's executive committee member, I always raised my voice against the school for increasing the fees every year. Last year on March 6, I complained to the education officer of KDMC. The department had even issued a notice of fee refund to the school."

Officialspeak
"Last year, we received a fee hike complaint against DS Desai School from Dhakorkar. After our primary inquiry, we have issued a notice to the school to return the illegal hiked amount to the parents, but the school didn't follow our order, so now I have appealed to the district officer to conduct a detailed inquiry against the school," said JJ Tadve, education officer, KDMC.