Srinagar: The Fee Fixation and Regulation Committee (FFRC), constituted by the Jammu and Kashmir government, has directed a private school to reduce its tuition fee by almost a half after receiving a complaint that the institution was overcharging students.
The directions against Foundation World School, Budgam, were given by the committee after a complaint was filed by a parent, Suhail Ahmad Dar.
The complainant had alleged that the school was charging fee at exorbitant rates from the students without approval from the competent authority.
After hearing both the sides, the committee, led by Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar (former Judge of J&K High Court), capped the maximum tuition fee at Rs 3,200 per month for up to class 8 as against Rs 6,360.
In an order, the committee also asked the school not to charge the admission fee and charge Rs 4,000 per year as annual fee for the already enrolled students and Rs 5,000 for fresh admissions.
The committee said the analysis of financial statements submitted by the school shows no clarity regarding the expenses on account of branding, estates and student expenses as no details are provided under these expenditure heads.
“There is also a huge jump in expenditure on account of rent from zero on 31.03.2017 and Rs 27927031 in 2019-20,” it said.
The school is run by a trust, which is charitable in nature, and is registered U/S 12 A of the Income Tax Act, it said.
“The settler of the trust is a father of the owner of the property who has leased out the property to the trust. For initial years, zero rent has been paid and surprisingly it has jumped to almost 3 crore within two years. The veil has to be lifted to ascertain the true picture,” the committee said in its order.
