State to have fee regulatory body for schools, colleges

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 10

Just over six months after Punjab was asked to clarify whether a regulatory body to examine fee structure of educational institutions was in place, the government has made clear its intent to have a regulatory commission and to legislate on the issue.

The government told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that it was within its domain to legislate on incorporation, regulation or winding up of universities and set up a commission for the purpose.

Appearing before Justice Rajan Gupta’s Bench, the state counsel asserted that the commission’s functions would have to be clearly regulatory. “Any such law will be in addition to and not in derogation of other laws governing the field in order to avoid conflict with powers and functions of institutions constituted under central enactments,” the counsel added. Punjab Advocate-General Atul Nanda was present during the proceedings.

Taking a note of the state’s stand that it intended to legislate on the issue, Justice Gupta asserted the court in view of the same did not wish to express any opinion on the question at the current stage.

He had earlier asserted that a question which arose for determination by the court was whether fee charged from students was governed by some official procedure and set of laws or was completely the discretion of a private institution.

The query by Justice Gupta came on a petition filed by Fatehgarh Sahib-based Mata Gujri College against the permanent lok adalat public utility services and another respondent.