Maha govt plans law to restrict school fee hike

Updated on: Tuesday, October 19, 2010

After the Bombay High Court set aside Maharashtra government resolution restricting and regulating fee hikes in private unaided schools, the government is now planning to come up with a law.

"We are planning to draft an Act to restrict and regulate fee hikes," an official of the Education Department said. An expert committee is drafting the Act and expected to be presented before the cabinet meeting soon. Later it would be introduced to the Legislature, the official said.

The government resolution, issued in July, prohibited schools from hiking fees for a certain period of time and not without the approval of parent-teacher associations. It also compelled managements to set up a website disclosing their balance sheets.

The government resolution was issued after receiving lot of complaints from parents about exorbitant fee hike by the schools, he added.

The GR was challenged by the Unaided Schools' Forum and the Association of International Schools and Principals Foundation. They argued that curtailing autonomy of private unaided schools and violated their fundamental right to administer educational institutes with their own vision.

The HC ruled that the state did not have the power to issue the GR under the present laws. The government is not against fee hike by schools but it has to be 'reasonable' for parents, the official said.

Maha govt plans law to restrict school fee hike

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