'Disclose fees on website or pay Rs 5 lakh fine'

NOIDA: The district fee regulation committee (DFRC) of Gautam Budh Nagar on Sunday said schools that were pulled up on Saturday for failing to disclose fee structures on their websites will be fined Rs 5 lakh for repeat violation if they do not do the same by July, when the next meeting is scheduled.
“All schools, which have been asked to roll back the increased fee, would also have to comply and submit the details of compliance before DFRC’s July meeting, else they too would face compounded fines,” P K Upadhay, the district inspector of schools, said.
On Saturday, a total fine of Rs 8.30 lakh had been imposed on 17 schools in the district for violating various provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Fee Regulation Act (2018).
This is the last month for the schools to correct transgressions of the Act (2018), Upadhyay said.
“On Saturday, we fined 17 schools. Thirty-one of them were initially served notices. We now expect all schools to comply with the rules,” Upadhay added.
Eight schools that were fined Rs 75,000 each are — CLM Public School, Gagan Public School, Grads International School, Greater Heights Public School, Shri Ravi Shankar Vidya Mandir, SD Public School, Karl Huber School and Dharam Public School.
The UP Fee Regulation Act, which was introduced as an ordinance a year ago, was imposed as an Act in October 2018. The schools were asked to correct their fee structure as per the Act by adjusting increments while using the year 2016-17 as the base year.
However, complaints continued to pour in from parents soon after the schools reopened for the 2019-20 session with some of them reporting hikes over 10 percent.