‘Pvt schools faked losses to hike fees’

“The schools did not follow the accounting standards while preparing their final accounts. There was no prescribed accounting format… Our scrutiny of the records has revealed that schools had determined tuition fees without considering the admissible expenditure…,” the CAG said in its 64-page report.

The schools were accused of levying Rs 13.8 crore on the parents by hiking fees and for “excess collection of development fee,admission fee,caution money and refundable security towards transportation fees”.

The report also criticised the schools’ decision to charge a development fee every year,when the same was to be charged on a one-time basis to implement the salary hike as per the Sixth Pay Commission. “There was sufficient unspent balance in the development fee fund and collection in subsequent years was not justified,” the report read.

The CAG findings,which would come up for hearing on Friday,added: “Inspection of the schools by the DoE was inadequate. The DoE made only 10 visits to 25 schools from 2006 to 2009,against 75 envisaged in the Act… Due to weak governance,the schools continued to enhance fees despite surplus funds.”

The CAG said the schools,which earned profits,used to prepare accounts to show losses by transferring the surplus funds into the next financial year.

The report dealt with the accounts of 25 private schools out of 1,211,randomly selected from across the Capital,including various high-profile schools. It was filed in pursuance of the High Court order on a petition filed by a parents’ association through advocate Ashok Agarwal,challenging the Delhi government’s decision to allow schools to hike tuition and development fees.