Maharashtra govt plans to notify law regulating school fees across state

MUMBAI: Fees charged by all educational institutions across the state, whether aided or unaided, government or private, will be regulated in a bid to curb the commercialization of education, making Maharashtra the second state after Tamil Nadu to introduce such a legislation.
The landmark Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Regulation Of Collection Of Fee) Act, 2011, has received Presidential assent and is likely to be brought into force soon, sources said, most likely from this academic year itself."Both houses of the state legislature had passed the bill for regulation of collection of fees in 2011. We had sent the proposal to the President of India for approval and he has now granted his assent. We are in the process of implementing the new law from the ensuing academic session," a senior bureaucrat told TOI on Wednesday.
The legislation defines an educational institute as a recognized school, pre-primary, primary, secondary and higher secondary school, junior college as well as training college for teachers' education approved by the National Council for Teachers' Education. It also includes Indian and foreign institutes, including those established and administered by any minority.
Fees in government educational institutions and aided schools shall be fixed by the government, while in private educational institutions it shall be regulated by an executive committee, which will include the principal and members of the Parent-Teachers Association.
The management of a private school will have to submit details of proposed fees and relevant record to the committee for approval, at least eight months before the start of an academic year. If the difference between fees decided by the management and the panel is less than 15%, the amount prescribed by the latter will be binding.
However, if the difference exceeds 15%, then it will be referred to a divisional fee regulatory committee set up in each 'education division', headed by a retired district judge. The regulatory committee will also include the state education board's divisional chairman, a leading chartered accountant, a retired head of the Central Board of School Education or the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education or any other board. The regulatory committee's orders will be binding on the private school for three academic years.
Further, it also provides for setting up a revision committee at the state level headed by a retired judge of the high court.
The Act also outlines stringent provisions for punishment. "Anyone contravening its provisions shall, on conviction, be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than one year, which may extend to three years, along with a fine of Rs 5 lakh," the bureaucrat said.
It will also be binding on the person convicted to refund the excess fee to the student from whom it was collected in contravention of the Act. A person who repeatedly contravenes provisions of the Act will be ineligible to hold an official post in any management or school. If an offence is committed by the management, every person in charge and responsible at the time when the offence was committed, shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and be liable to be punished.
Fees will be decided based on the school's location, available infrastructure, status regarding accreditation, expenditure on administration and maintenance, excess fund generated from non-resident Indians, qualified teaching and non-teaching staff, besides a reasonable amount for yearly salary increments.
The Act clarifies that 'fee' includes tuition fee, term fee, library fee and deposit, laboratory fee, gymkhana fee, caution money, examination fee, hostel fee and mess charges and admission fee.