Mumbai colleges under scanner as FRA cracks down on hidden fee collections

FRA officials inspect a college. PIC/BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The Fee Regulation Authority (FRA) has begun conducting surprise inspections at private educational institutes across the city to check whether the students were covertly being charged excessive fees and whether they were being provided appropriate facilities, among other measures. On Tuesday, the officials visited a private engineering college in Andheri and a pharmacy institute in Jogeshwari. The next day, the team visited engineering colleges in Chembur and Wadala.

Officials said a three-member team in a random order is conducting inspections after referring to grievances put forth by the students. There are a few more colleges on the list for this week, informed officials, adding that simultaneously, another team is also conducting inspections in Pune colleges. After the inspection, a report will be created on the colleges to decide the next course of action, be it penalties, fee structure reviews, or more, said officials.

"After visiting some colleges, we found that many infrastructural claims made by the colleges were not up to mark. In some, the halls on the premises were rented out for personal events like weddings while the students were taking exams," said Advocate Dharamendra Mishra, education specialist of the authority.

During the inspections, officials also flagged broken benches, broken tiles, unhygienic toilets and cafeterias. "At a pharmacy institute, the students were being charged excessive fees. The management of these defaulting institutes is to be called in for questioning. The colleges that are spending over and above for student benefits should claim these expenditures in the fee proposals submitted to the FRA, without collecting any extra fees," he added.

mid-day had reported on September 25 that the FRA has already begun addressing grievance cases against Maharashtra colleges amid the admission season, where excessive hostel fees, extra development fees, denial of state scholarships, gymkhana, and other facilities fees were a common guise under which the institutes have excessively charged students the fees that were not authorised by the Fee Regulation Authority. As per the authorities, a large number of these complaints were against AYUSH or Health Sciences courses.