Jail for demanding capitation fee, says Sibal

NEW DELHI - No more capitation fees, the government said Friday as it proposed punishment for educational institutes found fleecing students in the guise of hidden costs during admission and the management could also face jail.

“The union cabinet today (Friday) cleared the Prohibition of Unfair Practices Bill, 2010. This means capitation fee charged by educational institutions will be a cognizable offence,” Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters Friday.

“Those who are indulging in it will be prosecuted - some will get monetary penalty and others fine and imprisonment.

“We are very serious about capitation fee. This is destroying our education system. Its a cognizable offence now,” he said.

He said the thousands of educational institutes in the country will have to disclose all their fees and charges in the prospectus and nothing can be charged beyond that.

“This is a historic step that we are going to take through an appropriate law,” he added.

“Why can not they disclose it in the prospectus. We are moving towards a self disclosure regime,” the minister argued.

He said the civil offences entailing monetary punishment will be adjudicated in the educational tribunals, while the cognizable offences will go to courts.

Authorities hinted that the jail term could extend up to three years.

Earlier in the day, the union cabinet cleared a proposal to set up education tribunals to solve disputes ranging from affiliation to accreditation of higher educational institutes quickly.

“This will solve many disputes of the higher educational institutes,” Sibal added.

He said other than a central educational tribunal, all the state will have one such tribunal to deal with matters at the state level and “this is a historic step for reforming education”.

The ministry said the state tribunals would adjudicate matters related to teachers and other employees and students of higher educational institutions in the state. The national tribunal will work as an appellate body which will adjudicate issues pertaining to regulatory bodies in higher education and also matters related to institutions located in two and more states.

The government, the ministry said, intends to bring the Educational Tribunal Bill, 2010, in the current session of the parliament.

The minister said the cabinet has also cleared the National Accreditation Regulatory Authority Bill, 2010, that aims to set up a body to assess and accredit every higher educational institution.

“The authority will set norms for accreditation. The process of accreditation will be outsourced to agencies of integrity registered with the authority,” the minister added.