Srinagar: The J&K Fee Fixation and Regulation Committee (FFRC) today directed the DPS Srinagar not to charge Rs 90,000 admission fee under the guise of security deposit and asked it to refund the amount to the payees.
The direction came in response to a complaint by a group of parents saying that Rs 90,000 is being charged by the school management as admission fee in the guise of a (refundable) security deposit.
Chairperson FFRC, Justice (retd.) Sunil Hali after hearing the complainant parents said that it has already clarified in its orders that no fee except tuition fee, annual fee and transport fee can be charged from the students.
“The school cannot charge Rs 90000 as security deposit. It is specifically debarred by the statute. Any person who has paid this amount shall seek refund from the school management,” ordered the chairman.
The parents had also complained that the school has hiked tuition fee abruptly by 20 percent in mid-session and that the annual fee has also been hiked from Rs 8700 to Rs 14000 at an average. Besides late fee is being charged for any delay in depositing the fee even by a few days.
They agitated that despite directions of FFRC, transport fee is charged at the rate of Rs 2500 per month, per student, instead of Rs 2000.
The FFRC found the complaint as misplaced and observed that in August 2023 it perused the audit report as well as the income expenditure statements of the school and found that a hike in the fee is required to be given. Accordingly, it was decided to raise tuition fees by 5 percent every year. This practice is particularly being followed by the committee over a period of time, it said.
It directed the school management “to charge the raised tuition fee in two instalments. 10 percent be charged in the session 2023-24 and 10 percent in the next session i.e. 2024-25”.
It also directed “the enhanced annual fee be charged in two instalments as directed in the order passed on 14th of August 2023 by FFRC. It is directed that parents be given the opportunity to pay the second instalment of annual fee at least up to February 2024.”
The school has further been directed to charge future annual fees in two instalments with the first instalment in the beginning of new session and another in July every year.
The FFRC directed “the late fee be charged in case a parent fails to deposit the fee consecutively for three months. No late fee must be charged for any delayed payments up to three months.”
On the issue of charging a higher transport fee, the fee regulator said “the fee is over and above Rs 2000 as fixed by this committee. It is true that this forum has fixed an upper limit of Rs 2000 so far as the transport fee is concerned. The matter has been challenged in Hon’ble High Court, in which according to the information available to this forum, there is no interim direction passed by the High Court in this case.”
It asked the school to explain within a week as to why a transport fee more than Rs 2000 is being charged from students availing transport facility.
Direction was also issued to the school management to constitute a grievance redressal committee, which shall not include members of school trust and the management, and submit the details of its members within one week.
The complainants petitioned that the Parents Association formed in the school consists of the persons who are members of the management.
The FFRC accordingly directed the school management to submit the particulars of the members of its Parents Association along with their status.
It said the parents have a right to constitute a Parents Association on their own without seeking any guidance from the school management. They can undertake this exercise within two weeks and submit names of the office-bearers and members of the Association to the FFRC.
