Four prominent schools in the city will have to cough up over Rs one crore infees refund and fine after the Fee Regulation Committee (FRC) in Vadodara ruled against them on complaints of overcharging fees and taking charges or fees under heads that were not included in their approved fee structure.
The orders were issued by the FRC after it received complaints from a section of parents against Podar World School, Podar International School, Delhi Public School (DPS) at Harni and DPS at Kalali. The excess fees was charged for academic year 2019-20.
The committee passed an order asking Podar World School to pay Rs two lakh as fine as it came to light that it was charging late fees from students. The school used to charge Rs 300 per week for delay in paying the fees.
A fine of Rs one lakh was imposed on the Podar International which has been directed to refund fees of around 1,500 students. It was revealed that the school had charged more money than the fees fixed. Member of the FRC Keyur Rokadia said that the refund would amount to around Rs 27 lakh.
Around 2,900 students of DPS, Kalali, will benefit with the FRC ruling that the school had charged higher fees including term fees that were not allowed. Rokadia said that the refund ordered by the committee to the students of the school would amount to around Rs 52 lakh including both term and tuition fees.
In the case of about 2,100 students from the DPS, Harni, the school has been asked to refund the excess fees charged. This would amount to around Rs 28lakh, said Rokadia. The schools can appeal against the decision of the FRC in the revision committee or the court.
Recently, the committee had taken similar action against St Kabir School and Global Discovery Academy.
Rokadia tendered his resignation on Friday morning itself as he had been granted a ticket by the BJP for the ensuing civic polls
