The Ghaziabad administration has pulled up educational institutions that are reportedly charging fees from economically underprivileged students belonging to backward classes or SC/ST categories,warning that a formal police complaint will be lodged against all such institutes. District magistrate Hridyesh Kumar instructed social welfare department officials to issue warnings to educational institutes that charge fees from students whose parents income are less than or equal to Rs 1 lakh per annum. The administration has received complaints from students regarding being charged fees that are equivalent to that levied on the general category students by their institutes,the DM said. FIR will be lodged under SC/ST Act against the owners and the administration of any college,professional institution or school if it is found that they have charged fees from economically backward or SC/ST category students who cannot afford the fees. The government gives money to these educational institutes on behalf such students who have been given admission for free or at a lesser fee. These institutions have no right to charge money, the DM maintained. DM Kumar has also asked senior officials to keep a tab on the development work in the district. Officials found stretching the deadline set for completion of the work would be penalised,he said. The decision has been communicated to senior administration officials on not awarding appraisals to those who have not achieved their targets of the development work, said the Kumar. To ensure the strict implementation of the decision,the DM asked the administration to demote three officials with immediate effect for not meeting the targets in the development work assigned to them. We have stopped the salary hike and demoted one official from horticulture,one from irrigation and one executive engineer. They have not met their deadlines nor does it appear that it can be finished soon, the DM added.
