Gujrat Fee Regulation Bill 2017

The Gujarat Self Financed Schools (Regulation of Fees) Act came into force in April this year after Governor O.P. Kohli gave his assent to the Bill on April 12, 2017. The Bill was introduced by the state government in the last budget session with the aim of reining in private schools that charged “exorbitant fees” in the absence of a clear law. The fee structure prescribed in the law for primary, secondary and higher secondary school is ₹15,000, ₹25,000 and ₹27,000 per year, respectively. However, if the schools want to charge more, they will have to approach the state government-appointed fee regulation committee in their respective regions to get a prior approval. The committee will decide requests on a case to case basis after reviewing the application, the schools’ infrastructure, costs and other aspects.

Gujrat Fee Regulation bill was challenged by many private schools in Gujrat High Court, where Gujrat High given Judgment in Dec2017. The managements of various private, minority, CBSE and ICSE schools had approached the court against the law, saying it was not in accordance with the Constitution and should be scrapped.

Judgment:

The Gujarat High Court on 27th Dec 2017 held that the law enacted by the state government to regulate fees charged by private schools in the state is constitutionally valid. It rejected dozens of petitions filed by private schools challenging the law.

The court has ordered all schools to follow the Gujarat Self Financed Schools (Regulation of Fees) Act, 2017, which will be implemented from 2018.

Rejecting around 40 petitions opposing it, a division bench of Chief Justice R. Subhash Reddy and Justice V.M. Pancholi upheld the law and ruled that the state legislature is competent and has the authority to form laws for state boards, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE).

For complete Gujrat Fee regulation bill:

18-1-1 Gujrat GOG_GAZETTE_27042017