Private professional educational institutions: Now, a fee regulatory body to keep check on irregularities, profiteering

The state government has issued a notification in line with the new legislation — Maharashtra Unaided Private Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admissions and Fees) Act, 2015. If the regulator is able to establish that the unaided institution has charged fees in excess of what has been approved by the authority, the fees will be returned to the student concerned. Besides, if any private educational institution violates norms again or is found to be indulging in irregularities, the name of the institution will be recommended for withdrawal of affiliation or approval from the authority concerned, according to the new rules.

“If the regulating authority is of the opinion that any person has contravened any of the provisions of this Act or the rules there, it may direct such person to pay a penalty for the first contravention which shall not be less than Rs 1 lakh and may extend to Rs 5 lakh or twice the amount taken in excess of the fee as determined under this Act, whichever is higher. For the second or subsequent contravention, it shall not be less than Rs 2 lakh and may extend to Rs 10 lakh or twice the amount taken in excess of the fee as determined under this Act, whichever is higher,” according to the regulations which have been notified.

The new norms mandate, “Whoever provides incorrect information, fabricated and fake books of accounts, fraudulent documents, and such other evidence to the authorities, whether or not the act is done for profit or gain, is said to have committed an offence and shall, on conviction, be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months.”

According to these rules, the regulating authority will comprise a retired judge of the High Court or a retired officer of the government of the rank of chief secretary as chairperson. The other members will include an eminent educationist who has worked as vice-chancellor of an university, an expert of repute from the field of professional education and the director of technical education, among others.

“We have also mandated that every unaided institution will have to display the course-wise fees as approved by the regulating authority on its notice board and website in Marathi and English. In case of linguistic minority institutions, it will also be in the language of the minority to which such institution belongs and shall be binding on the students and the institution,” said a state government official.

According to the regulations published in the Maharashtra government gazette, the regulating authority will “undertake research studies, at such intervals as they may deem fit, for determining the professional course-wise expenses required to be made per student for unaided institutions in accordance with the mandatory guidelines of the appropriate authority concerned; and will undertake measures for the redressal of grievances of the stakeholders”.

While determining the “reasonableness” of the fee structure proposed, the authority will have to consider factors like the location (urban or rural) of the institution, the cost of land and building, minimum mandatorily required infrastructure or facilities, available number of qualified and regularly appointed teaching and non-teaching staff and expenses on the prescribed salaries of the teaching and non-teaching staff, besides the expenditure on administration and maintenance. They will need to look at the reasonable revenue surplus required for growth and development of the institution with particular reference to the professional course conducted by it which will not be more than 15 per cent of educational revenue in the respective professional course or group of courses.
Other aspects include facilities provided by the government, such as lease of land at concessional rates and use of its infrastructure, for the conduct of the professional courses, depreciation or contribution for asset replacement fund, rent of building or usage charges and incentives for quality enhancement such as faculty strength with PhD qualifications, research publications in international journals and patent filed by the institution, faculty training and placement of students and accreditation of eligible programmes.