High Court directs RJ Shah Committee to review fee ceilings of SFIs

The committee appointed by the high court to regulate the fees that an unaided professional institute can charge had come out with a report on the fee structure on April 9.

The committee had studied the fee proposals submitted by more than 400 institutes and its report detailed the maximum amount each institute could charge as fees. Overall,the fee ceiling set by the committee was a rise of about 20 to 30 per cent.

“Some institutes are claiming exorbitant increase [in expenses,” a committee official had told Newsline then,explaining that some colleges had expected much higher ceilings than the committee had set.

Sources said three self-financed professional institutes filed five cases against the committee’s report alleging that their expenses would not be covered by the maximum amount of fees they were allowed to charge as per the committee’s report,and that each institute’s proposals should be studied individually.

The committee is to study the proposals of these institutes again,this time,with the institutes’ representatives present on the scene. “The committee had already looked at each proposal one-by-one and decided on the maximum limit. Now,the institutes’ representatives will be present to see for themselves how the fees are being fixed,” said a committee official.

The anticipated reviews will only apply to the institutes that have challenged the committee’s report. The committee hopes to come out with a final report for these institutes by June 12.