Borivali law college refunds ₹57.6 lakh excess fees charged from students

Mumbai: Nearly six months after the state Fee Regulatory Authority (FRA) directed a law college in Borivali to refund excess fees they charged from students, the institute last week deposited ₹57,59,750 with the fee authority

Mumbai: Nearly six months after the state Fee Regulatory Authority (FRA) directed a law college in Borivali to refund excess fees they charged from students, the institute last week deposited ₹57,59,750 with the fee authority. In the minutes of the May 11 meeting between officials from Nalanda Law College and authorities at the FRA office, it was clarified that the amount deposited will be reimbursed to affected students over the next few weeks.

The FRA agreed to bring down the deposit money to ₹57.6 lakh to refund affected students. (HT PHOTO)

The matter was first brought to the notice of fee authority in 2021, when students of LLB (both three and five year) courses highlighted how the institute had charged fees higher than that approved by FRA for years 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19. The 5-year LLB students also highlighted excess fees charged in 2019-20 and 2020-21.

In October 2021, the fee authority directed the management of Nalanda Law College in Borivali to deposit ₹66 lakh, collected over and above the fees approved, from students. The college officials, however, had submitted that they were unable to deposit the entire amount due to the poor financial condition of the institute developed on account of the pandemic.

They highlighted that the college, which is run by a trust, was not getting fees from students and had requested that the amount to be deposited be reduced. The FRA agreed to bring down the deposit money to ₹57.6 lakh to refund affected students.

It further states that the pandemic has affected the financial status of all education institutes--government as well as private, so over and above the refund deposit, the penalty on the institute will stand at ₹1 lakh. FRA has also asked the college to refund the said deposit of excess fees to affected students.

“A list of affected students with their email ids, phone numbers and bank account details to be submitted to FRA within two weeks and on submitting details, the exact amount should be paid to individual students by transferring the amount at the earliest,” said FRA.