Another Ahmedabad private school fined ₹5 lakh for fee approval violation

Another private school in Ahmedabad has been fined ₹5 lakh by the Fee Regulation Committee (FRC) for failing to obtain approval for its fees for the 2024–25 academic year.

According to officials, RP Vasani School in the Nava Naroda area was penalised after it did not submit its fee proposal for the relevant academic year, as mandated under the state’s Private School Fee Regulation Act. The school has since paid the fine.

Under the Act, private school fees are fixed once every three years. Any institution seeking to charge fees above the set limit must submit a detailed proposal, including financial statements and supporting documents, to the FRC for approval.

The committee had approved the school’s fee structure for the 2023–24 academic year. However, before the start of the 2024–25 session, the school failed to submit a fresh proposal. Instead, it submitted a proposal for the 2025–26 academic year, effectively skipping one year of mandatory approval.

The lapse was flagged by the committee, which subsequently issued a notice and conducted a hearing to seek an explanation from the school. After the violation was acknowledged, the committee ordered the school to pay a fine of ₹5 lakh in accordance with the rules.

Education activists have pointed out that while some schools accept responsibility for procedural lapses, many private institutions allegedly continue to charge fees without approval, particularly at the pre-school level. There have been renewed calls for stricter penalties against schools found repeatedly violating fee regulation norms.