Mumbai college charging illegal fees, allege students

Management studies students of NL Dalmia Institute of management Studies and Research in Mira Road have approached the state Fee Regulatory Authority (FRA) alleging that the college was charging fees over and above the fee approved by the regulatory body.

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Based on the complaint received from students, FRA, which regulates the fees for all professional courses offered by colleges in Maharashtra, has sought a response from the college. In a meeting held on Tuesday, FRA granted the institute time till Friday to respond, according to the minutes of the meeting recorded on the official website of FRA.

Seema Saini, chief executive officer and administrative head of NL Dalmia Institute of Management Studies and Research, said no official communication had been received from FRA. “I have received a telephone call from FRA wherein I informed FRA that we will need time to respond. However, we will wait for official word from FRA before commenting,” Saini said.

In their complaint, several first- and second-year students pursuing Masters in Management Studies have alleged that the college was asking students to pay around ₹2.3 lakh over and above the approved fees under the guise of ‘other charges’.

FRA had approved an annual fee of ₹1.87 lakh for the academic year 2019-20 and for the academic year 2020-21, the fee is ₹1.9 lakh.

Students alleged that the institute, which has around 121 students in each batch, has been charging ₹4.15 lakh as fees. “While the approved fee is collected as ‘tuition fee’, the rest is collected as ‘other charges’. This is illegal,” said a student on the condition of anonymity.

Students, especially those from economically weaker sections, said they were having trouble availing study loans. “We are getting loan only on the tuition amount. Effectively, we end up getting very little relief as we have to pay the rest on our own,” said another student.

Another student said the college was targeting students who questioned the additional fees. “We have been told indirectly that they will be causing problems in our placements,” said the student.

On October 7, FRA had informed colleges that in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, it planned to withdraw the 10% hike in tuition fees granted to them every year. However, on Wednesday FRA clarified that this is an appeal to colleges. “This (proposal to withdraw the hike) should be treated as an appeal rather than an order to come forward to mitigate sufferings of stakeholders,” said FRA.