Maharashtra Educational Institutions Regulation of Fees Act 2011 to be weakened? The organization has received the information from the confidential sources that the State of Maharashtra has brought anti parents amendments in the Maharashtra Educational Institutions Regulation of Fees Act 2011 in the month of July 2018 & yes it is all done so silently, as per the information received neither the opposition leaders nor the government was bothered to hold any public discussion before passing the bill in the assembly.
As per the information received, the Maharashtra Educational Institutions Regulation of Fees Act 2011 has further been amended to help the educational institutions which would be the real beneficiaries & it seems that the commercialization of the education which is rampant in state of Maharashtra past many years is likely to flourish more than ever after these amendments would actually get approval from the legislative council too.
As per the blog released by the organization earlier it was published that the Maharashtra Educational Institutions Regulation of Fees Act 2011 was enacted by deliberately neglecting the principles laid down in judgments given by the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s constitutional benches famously known as T.M.A.Pai Foundation & later its interpretation given in the P.A.Inamdar’s case. The blog was released in Marathi as the organization aims to create awareness at the grass root level. However the relevant paragraphs of the judgments are copied in English. The link of the blog above referred is as follows-
महाराष्ट्राचा फी नियंत्रण कायदा व सुधारणा…एक अभिशाप…
*Extremely Important & Must Read For Common People-
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At present, as per the information received by the confidential sources, the the details of the important anti parent amendments carried out by the government ‘silently’ in the assembly, is as follows-
A. As per the information received the most criticized declaration of amendment of the Education Minister of 25% parents ‘must approval’ for complaining or challenging the approved fee of the school management before the DFRC or otherwise, has been approved!
B. As per the information received the part of the Section 16 of Maharashtra Educational Institutions Regulation of Fees Act 2011 which provided for the fine of the twice of the illegally collected amount by any school has been deleted! It is pertinent to note that since the act was enacted no fine was imposed by the state government on its own against any errant school till date.
C. As per the information received One of the most shocking amendment has been approved that the school shall be eligible to recover the interest from the parents for delay in the fees!
D. As per the information received one of the gift given to the education institutes is given by the government by allowing them fee hike in exceptional conditions if the 76% of the parents give their approval. However no such opportunity is given to the parents, the parents too should have got the equal right that if the 76% of the parents approve, the fee hike of the schools shall be rolled back. But Alas! Parents have not been ‘gifted’ with such amendment by the government.
E. As per the information received the provision that there shall be 2 joint secretaries among the parents in the Parent Teacher Association’s Executive Committee has been deleted and replaced with 1 member from the parent & one from the teachers.
The detailed opinion about the new amendments to the Maharashtra Educational Institutions Regulation of Fees Act 2011 if approved in the legislative council too (as as per the information bill has been passed in assembly) shall be published in detailed blog. However this reckless step on the part of the government has become rude shock to the lacs of the parents of the state, as the government had appointed the Justice (Rtd.) Palshikar Committee for the purpose of eliminating the defects in the present act, on the contrary the government has ‘eliminated’ the parents welfare itself using the committee appointed for the welfare of the parents themselves! This fact was proved by the education activist from the Mumbai Shri.Prasad Tulaskar ji, who received the information under right to information act in the month of April 2018 from the education ministry. As per some media reports the Education Minister had declared that the education department shall be enacting the 25% mandatory approval from the parents of the school to challenge the fees approved by any school. Accordingly Shri.Prasad Tulaskar ji asked the query under the RTI Act 2005 asking details of the authority/recommendation based upon which the Education Minister made such declaration, see the reply in Marathi given by the Education Ministry as follows-
It simply meant that the Education Ministry itself was unaware based upon which expert’s or authority’s recommendation or suggestion, the minister of the education made such declaration publicly!
In nutshell it is clear that the government has played foul and broken the trust of millions of parents all over the state. Already a weak law has further been made weakest to help the most of the education institutions to achieve their dream goal of absolute commercialization of the education!
Basically it is the state government which has to regulate & control the fees at the initial stages & not by the handful parents ‘picked’ by the lottery system as in the present statute. Fee regulation needs detailed study of the cost management and accounting, Society Acts etc. The detailed aspect is given in the blogs mentioned in the beginning of this article. Instead of taking the responsibility the government has inflicted it upon the parents & is not letting any chance to the parents to control the issue of exorbitant fees effectively, by bringing such arbitrary and unjust amendments. Thus the government of Maharashtra including the opposition leaders have surrendered to the Education Giants’ ulterior motives of letting them loot the parents freely!
What parents should do-
Spreading awareness & Immediate & decisive protest! It has become need of the hour. Because in democracy, the issues are solved with the two ways only. Either through protests or by knocking the door of the courts. The organization shall also be examining the legal aspects about this issue & challenging it before the appropriate court if required. Apart from this, parents need themselves to educate about various laws & provisions under the existing statutes. Accordingly, the organization has recently published the detailed article about the legal remedies and strategy parents should follow in Marathi article ( so that it reaches the rural area of Maharashtra too). The link of the same is as follows-
महाराष्ट्र शैक्षणिक संस्था शुल्क विनियमन अधिनियम २०११- तक्रार निवारण मार्गदर्शिका!
I firmly believe that in spite of such arbitrary and detrimental amendments to the interest of the parents, if parents follow the strategy above given, they can get success inflicting fine up to Rupees Ten lacs & Criminal Prosecution against the errant education institutes. The English translation of the article above mentioned shall be published soon.
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-Adv.Siddharthshankar Sharma
Founder President-Bharatiya Krantikari Sangathan
