Bhubaneswar: BJD national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Amar Patnaik has filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Orissa High Court on behalf of ‘Odisha Abhibhabaka Mahasangha’ condemning the Centre and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for ‘arbitrarily’ increasing the fees for writing the Class X and XII examinations.
“Filed my first case, a PIL, in Odisha High Court on behalf of the Odisha Abhibhabaka Mahasangha against CBSE and Centre for arbitrarily increasing the fees for writing the class X and XII examinations. More than 2 lakh students in Odisha are affected directly by such increase. There are another 4 lakh approx affected indirectly,” Patnaik tweeted soon after filing the plea.
Notably, the CBSE had in August this year notified about increasing the fees of Class X and Class XII board examinations. The fees for general category students for both Class 10 and 12 have been doubled from Rs 750 to Rs 1,500 for five subjects, while the SC and ST students, who were paying Rs 350 earlier, will have to cough up Rs 1,200 for five subjects.