Earlier this year, in May, the court ordered the school administration not to exclude any students from classes for non-payment of fees. «The school administration is free to take appropriate action to recover outstanding contributions,» HC said. The most recent order, dated 1 October, states that the spirit of the direction was to give the parent or ward concerned time to pay the specified fee. «This in no way relieves parents/wards of the obligation to pay the amount specified in the judgment,» the court noted. The Supreme Court clarified in its October 1, 2021 decision that the school administration can take legal action to recover fees from students who did not pay them on time. A panel of Supreme Court judges, consisting of Justices AM Khanwilkar and CT Ravikumar, authorized schools to take steps to recover outstanding fees in accordance with the law. «The school management is free to take appropriate steps to collect contributions/amounts due, if any, in accordance with the law. At the same time, if the parent/community concerned applies for clemency for valid reasons, the school administration is free to consider such a request with compassion,» the order reads. The order in May was issued in a series of appeals by private schools in Rajasthan against the state government`s order to postpone/reduce tuition fees in light of the consequences of the lockdown from March 2020, The Hindu reported. However, an application from the Progressive Schools Association clarified that the Supreme Court`s May 3, 2021 decision does not prohibit schools from taking enforcement action against students who have not paid the payments in accordance with the agreement set out in the decision.