Bills on Higher Education Tabled, Charging Capitation Fee to Be Cognisable Offence
Union Human Resources Minister Kapil Sibal has introduced in Lok Sabha a bill that seeks to make charging of capitation fee by any medical or technical institute a cognisable offence and empowers police to arrest the erring administrators without warrant, reported PTI.
Amid uproar in Lok Sabha over 2G spectrum scam, Sibal tabled The Prohibition of Unfair Practices in Technical Educational Institutions, Medical Educational Institutions and University Bill, 2010, said report.
In addition, the minister also introduced in the House the Educational Tribunal Bill, 2010 that provides for establishing specialised tribunals at the Centre and the states for adjudication of matters pertaining to disputes in educational institutions, report said.
He also tabled the National Accreditation Regulatory Authority Bill, 2010, which envisages setting up of a body to assess and accredit every institution in higher education, said report.
The prohibition of unfair practices bill seeks to classify malpractices into two categories.
Charging capitation fee will be a cognisable offence while other offences will be treated as non-cognisable and attract some fine.
The civil offences will be adjudicated in the educational tribunals, while the cognisable offences will be dealt by courts.
Currently, a state-level committee headed by a retired high court judge fixes the fee structure in private engineering and medical colleges. However, there are instances of many institutes charging fee higher than that suggested by the panel.
Some institutes demand donations for admitting students and do not issue receipts for payments made by them. They give misleading advertisements in media with intent to cheat students. They also withhold certificates and other documents of students who want to quit the institute.
Certain institutes, which promise good quality education but do not deliver it, will face penalty under this new regulation.
“Capitation fee charged by any institute will be a cognisable offence. People will be prosecuted without fear and favour,” Sibal had said after the bill was cleared by the Cabinet.
