Karnataka HC drafts rules to regulate fee in private schools

Karnataka High Court asked the government to regulate school fees in private unaided educational institutions. It asked the state government to notify draft rules under the Karnataka Education Act. HC has asked the government to notify draft rules by October 5.

The Karnataka High Court said, "Till the parents approached this court, their complaints on schools charging exorbitant fees had fallen on deaf ears. The department authorities woke up from a deep slumber and attempted to conduct inspections only after parents approached the court."

Justice Aravinda kumar said the authorities did not issue notices to the complainants seeking their presence when they visited the schools that are collecting excess fees.

"But they contend that they inspected schools. They even failed to place any proceedings of how they acted on the complaints," he added. He also said that the lack of efforts to implement the rules regulating fees and donations collected by recognized private schools had forced the court to issue guidelines.

The High Court has issued eight guidelines to curb the practice of charging excess fee and donations by private schools. It will help the private schools across the state to determine a fee structure.

Justice Kumar said that such a practice has been continued every year due to lack of efforts by the authorities to implement the Karnataka Education Institutions Rules 1995 and The Karnataka Educational institutions (Regulations of certain fees and donations) Rules, 1999.

The proposed draft discusses the option of levying a huge fine of Rs. 10 lakhs to the private unaided institutions for collecting an extra fee rather than that fixed by the authorities.

A 90-day time frame is required to complete the necessary amendments.