Education activists have complained that junior colleges are charging higher fees than approved by the stateGovernment.
Activists said that as per the Law fees to be charged by the colleges has to be printed in the admissions manual but it is not and colleges ask students to pay more during admissions. According to a study by System, a Pune-based NGO fighting to bring transparency to the admission process, colleges receiving government grants charge Rs5, 000 to 6,000 from each student. This is higher than Rs300 prescribed by the government.
“Fees in aided institutes are fixed by the government because they get salary and non-salary grants from them,” said Vaishali Bafna, a member of the NGO, who is one of the petitioners in a PIL filed by them against the state education department.
Colleges are charging extra amounts under the guise of insurance, development fund, building fund, among others.
The education department had agreed to form a panel direct colleges to collect fees according to the rules this year. But the committee has not come up with any recommendations yet.
“The fees for aided institutions were to be fixed by the government, but it has not been done,” said B.B Chavan, deputy director of education.
