Fee hike: 9 Gurgaon schools’ audit under scanner

The Committee set up a panel last week, which would look into the financial audit of the schools. The panel is  headed by divisional commissioner D Suresh.

The Committee had released an order to conduct an audit into the account department of the schools on August 5. The audit was supposed to be conducted by a chartered accountant and district education officer, Manoj Kaushik.

According to the orders, the report of audit should have been submitted within three months (from the time when the complaints were filed by parents in July) under the supervision of additional deputy commissioner.

However, parents said that it has been more than three months that they had filed the complaint, but the panel is yet to come up with its audit report. “If the panel does not release its report by November 5, the parents will approach the high court,” said Subhadhra Kamath, a parent body member.

“Proper audit will be conducted under the additional deputy commissioner’s supervision. If the schools are found guilty, strict action will be taken against them,” said Kaushik.

According to Section 198 of the Haryana state Education Rules, schools can charge parents only the education or tuition fee of their wards. However, schools have started started charging huge fee in the name of additional facilities. Several schools have started charging capitation fee, which is prohibited under the Act.

Capitation fee is a one-time hefty amount that is charged from parents at the time of the admission of their wards.

The fact was exposed first in May when over 1,200 parents had approached the committee. The nine unaided schools include some well-known institutes in the city.

“The authorities can audit 5 per cent of the schools selected through a draw of lots or on the basis of complaints filed by the parents and we have not been told about it either,” said Aditi Misra, principal of Delhi Public School (DPS) in Sector 45.