In India there has been an alarming increase in the number of fake universities and colleges, since the last decade. Such institutions do not have approval from the government and required permissions to offer courses in various streams. In order to prevent and control such institutes, the central government has made efforts to pass a bill in the parliament. The parliamentary standing committee on HRD has made recommendations on amending the Prohibition of Unfair Practices in Technical Educational Institutions, Medical Educational Institutions and Universities Bill, 2010. The bill with the amendments is put for consideration of the parliament.

The purpose of introducing such a bill

The objective of the Prohibition of Unfair Practices in Technical Educational Institutions, Medical Educational Institutions and Universities Bill, 2010 is to prevent and prohibit unfair practices that are prevailing across many institutes in our country. The bill also has provisions to punish those who practice unfair practices in institutes such as technical educational institutions, medical institutions, and universities. With this bill, the government is planning to stop profiteering by many of the institutes, mainly run by private management. At present such institutes are not under the scope of any such regulations. The bill directs every college to disclose information about the admission procedure by publishing a prospectus which is compulsory for all institutes. By adopting such an approach, it will bring public accountability of such institutes and also to ensure that no unfair practices are being followed in the case of each and every student. The move to make disclosure mandatory and making the institute accountable for compliance with the bill is an improvement over the conventional inspection based regulatory process that was in use. The bill will allow students or any other stake holder to challenge any unfair practices that is being followed by any of the institutes. The stake holders can approach any tribunal or criminal court which is competent enough to handle such complaints which arise out of unfair practices that are followed and it will be the responsibility of the institution to present proofs to prove other wise.

Who is going to benefit from the bill?

The primary beneficiary of this bill will be the students, where the bill will stop any unfair practices that exist in the education institutions as they are the one who are affected by such practices which deny their right to better education based on their eligibility. More over students are harassed in the name of large capitation fee. So this bill is intended to protect the rights of the students in securing admission to institutes.

The current policy and law

The present law does not have provisions to prevent capitation fees and other practices. This makes it difficult to take steps to prevent and prohibit any such activities. The present policies in the higher education gives autonomy to the institutions, which is being used by educational institutions as a means to do all sought activities that, are harmful for the credibility of the higher education sector. So it will be in the interest of the public to strike a balance between autonomy for institutions and protection of the interest of the students in accessing higher education.

The background of the problem with the higher education

In the past few years the higher education in India has witnessed a exponential growth, with the number of professional institutes growing at a rate higher than before. The growth in the number of professional colleges such as technical and medical colleges was as a result of private participation. The policy of the government is promote private not for profit institutes which will plough back the profits to development of the institutions. But what happened in the higher education was different from what the government had proposed.

With the growth in the number of engineering and medical colleges, there was an increasing public concern over the unfair practices that were prevailing in the higher education system. The unfair practices usually include demanding huge capitation and donation for securing admission, not recording any payments made by the students by not issuing receipts, non transparent and suspicious means of admitting students for professional courses, poor quality of education imparted, misleading students and parents by giving advertisements which are not real in terms of the quality of education and in terms of the facilities and infrastructure provided to students. In most of the private professional colleges, the teachers are not qualified to take classes which make the situation even worse. There are institutions which with hold the certificates of students to force them to make payments or to make them work without adequate compensation.

What are the monetary penalties that will be imposed on offending institutes?

The bill enforces imposition of monetary penalties for those who operate outside the provisions of the bill. In the case of institutions performing other than what is disclosed in the prospectus and those demands or receives capitation or donations will be liable to pay a an amount extending up to rupees fifty lakh. The institutes will be liable to pay penalty up to an amount of rupees ten lakh in the case of with holding certificates or documents of students with out sufficient and reasonable cause. Institutions who advertise misleading facts and untrue statement will be penalized with an amount extending to rupees fifty lakh. In the case of educational institutes committing offences that are not specified in the bill, the institution will be liable to pay penalty extending to amount of rupees five lakh.

Jurisdiction of issues arising out of breaking the provisions

The bill also specifies that no court shall have the jurisdiction to consider any disputes that arise from the actions taken or penalties imposed on any of the educational institutions by any competent authority entrusted by the bill such as state educational tribunal or national educational tribunal. In case of institutes accused of committing offence, it is the responsibility of the educational institute alone to prove that it has not committed the offence.

In India there has been an alarming increase in the number of fake universities and colleges, since the last decade. Such institutions do not have approval from the government and required permissions to offer courses in various streams. In order to prevent and control such institutes, the central government has made efforts to pass a bill in the parliament. The parliamentary standing committee on HRD has made recommendations on amending the Prohibition of Unfair Practices in Technical Educational Institutions, Medical Educational Institutions and Universities Bill, 2010. The bill with the amendments is put for consideration of the parliament.

The purpose of introducing such a bill

The objective of the Prohibition of Unfair Practices in Technical Educational Institutions, Medical Educational Institutions and Universities Bill, 2010 is to prevent and prohibit unfair practices that are prevailing across many institutes in our country. The bill also has provisions to punish those who practice unfair practices in institutes such as technical educational institutions, medical institutions, and universities. With this bill, the government is planning to stop profiteering by many of the institutes, mainly run by private management. At present such institutes are not under the scope of any such regulations. The bill directs every college to disclose information about the admission procedure by publishing a prospectus which is compulsory for all institutes. By adopting such an approach, it will bring public accountability of such institutes and also to ensure that no unfair practices are being followed in the case of each and every student. The move to make disclosure mandatory and making the institute accountable for compliance with the bill is an improvement over the conventional inspection based regulatory process that was in use. The bill will allow students or any other stake holder to challenge any unfair practices that is being followed by any of the institutes. The stake holders can approach any tribunal or criminal court which is competent enough to handle such complaints which arise out of unfair practices that are followed and it will be the responsibility of the institution to present proofs to prove other wise.

Who is going to benefit from the bill?

The primary beneficiary of this bill will be the students, where the bill will stop any unfair practices thatexist in the education institutions as they are the one who are affected by such practices which deny their right to better education based on their eligibility. More over students are harassed in the name of large capitation fee. So this bill is intended to protect the rights of the students in securing admission to institutes.

The current policy and law

The present law does not have provisions to prevent capitation fees and other practices. This makes it difficult to take steps to prevent and prohibit any such activities. The present policies in the higher education gives autonomy to the institutions, which is being used by educational institutions as a means to do all sought activities that, are harmful for the credibility of the higher education sector. So it will be in the interest of the public to strike a balance between autonomy for institutions and protection of the interest of the students in accessing higher education.

The background of the problem with the higher education

In the past few years the higher education in India has witnessed a exponential growth, with the number of professional institutes growing at a rate higher than before. The growth in the number of professional colleges such as technical and medical colleges was as a result of private participation. The policy of the government is promote private not for profit institutes which will plough back the profits to development of the institutions. But what happened in the higher education was different from what the government had proposed.

With the growth in the number of engineering and medical colleges, there was an increasing public concern over the unfair practices that were prevailing in the higher education system. The unfair practices usually include demanding huge capitation and donation for securing admission, not recording any payments made by the students by not issuing receipts, non transparent and suspicious means of admitting students for professional courses, poor quality of education imparted, misleading students and parents by giving advertisements which are not real in terms of the quality of education and in terms of the facilities and infrastructure provided to students. In most of the private professional colleges, the teachers are not qualified to take classes which make the situation even worse. There are institutions which with hold the certificates of students to force them to make payments or to make them work without adequate compensation.

What are the monetary penalties that will be imposed on offending institutes?

The bill enforces imposition of monetary penalties for those who operate outside the provisions of the bill. In the case of institutions performing other than what is disclosed in the prospectus and those demands or receives capitation or donations will be liable to pay a an amount extending up to rupees fifty lakh. The institutes will be liable to pay penalty up to an amount of rupees ten lakh in the case of with holding certificates or documents of students with out sufficient and reasonable cause. Institutions who advertise misleading facts and untrue statement will be penalized with an amount extending to rupees fifty lakh. In the case of educational institutes committing offences that are not specified in the bill, the institution will be liable to pay penalty extending to amount of rupees five lakh.

Jurisdiction of issues arising out of breaking the provisions

The bill also specifies that no court shall have the jurisdiction to consider any disputes that arise from the actions taken or penalties imposed on any of the educational institutions by any competent authority entrusted by the bill such as state educational tribunal or national educational tribunal. In case of institutes accused of committing offence, it is the responsibility of the educational institute alone to prove that it has not committed the offence.