COIMBATORE:The Justice SR Singaravelu Private Schools Fee Determination Committee has directed the Department of School Education to collect and refund Rs 7.16 crore excess fee collected by 26 private matriculation schools across the state to parents.
The committee was constituted to determine the fee structure of private schools in the state from 2013 to 2016. In the last two years, the panel received totally 52 complaints of private schools collecting fees more than the prescribed amount. Acting on these complaints, enquiries were held in these 52 schools and 12 of them were ordered to refund the excess fee, which worked out to Rs 46.19 lakh, collected from students last year.
Further enquiries conducted by the committee members confirmed that 26 other schools on the list had also collected excess fee from students. So, the committee has directed the Department of School Education to collect and refund excess fee to the parents. A notice has been sent to the Directorate of Matriculation Schools in this regard on Tuesday.
One of the members of the committee told Express that in the last two years the fee fixation process was completed for more than 11,000 schools and show-cause notices were sent to 520 institutions in the state for not cooperating with the process.
Close to 260 schools had approached the committee till date and the committee was scrutinising their documents. Around 430 schools had appealed to increase the fee structure recommended by the committee this year and based on HC recommendations requests of another 100 schools was being enquired, the official added.
School Education Department sources here said that they were yet to receive any instructions from Chennai in this regard.