Two Ghaziabad schools told to refund Rs1.22 crore excess fee

The district fee regulatory committee (DFRC) has directed two Ghaziabad schools to adjust or refund to students excess fee allegedly charged for the 2018-19 academic session.

In a meeting held on June 3, the committee directed the Uttam School for Girls, Shastri Nagar to adjust or refund to students of different classes an amount of about Rs 50 lakh while Modern School, Vaishali was directed to adjust or refund about Rs 72 lakh.

The committee also invited members of different parents’ associations as well as representatives of nine schools, including Uttam School for Girls and Modern School to the meeting.

“The amounts need to be refunded by the two schools and are related to 2018-19 session. The total amount has been calculated for different classes and number of students. We have also made it clear that there will be no fee hike for academic session 2019-20. Penalty of Rs1 lakh each has been levied on schools who could not produce documents for examination before the committee,” Ritu Maheshwari, district magistrate and head of the committee, said.

The DFRC also made it clear that any late fee charged for the 2019-20 academic session will need to be refunded.

In a specific order for the Uttam School for Girls, the DFRC directed for Rs 5,650 as AC charges which is to remain same for two sessions, 2018-19 and 2019-20.

Sharmila Raheja, principal of Uttam School for Girls, said, “We are waiting for the formal order and will take appropriate measures in this regard.”

Latha N Suresh, the vice principal of Modern School, Vaishali, expressed surprise over the refund order.

“I personally attended the meeting on Monday and there was no such decision for refund from our side. Before the meeting, we had submitted our full and fair calculation to the committee officials. During the meeting, it was decided that further calculation will be done. There were no extra charges taken from our side. Since this new issue has cropped up, we will again approach the district magistrate,” she said.

Besides these two schools, the DFRC directed officials of the Chhaya Public School, Vaishali to adjust or refund a total of Rs 88,774 to students of different classes and also levied a penalty of Rs 1 lakh on another school in Sahibabad for not submitting the fee-related documents before the committee.

The DFRC also said in a statement that no refund or adjustment needs to be made by GD Goenka Public School, Indirapuram and asked committee officials to examine documents submitted by Indirapuram Public School, Indirapuram and Sapphire International School, Crossings Republik.

First Published: Jun 05, 2019 10:26 IST