 bill no  82  of  2018 the private schools (regulation of fee) bill, 2018 bydr boora narsaiah goud, mp a billto provide for regulation of fee in private schools with a view to make education accessible to all and for matters connected therewithor incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-ninth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the private schools (regulation of fee) act, 2018(2) it extends to the whole of indiashort title,extent and commencementdefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a) "academic year" means the year specified by the appropriate government or, as the case may be, any board or council to which respective school  is affiliated;5(b) "aided school" means a school receiving any kind of recurring grant or assistance in monetary or non-monetary form, from the appropriate government or the concerned authority for defraying its expenditure;(c) "appropriate government" means, in the case of a state, the government of that state and in all other cases, the central government;(d) "child" means a child who has not completed the age of fourteen years;10(e) "fee" means the amount fixed as fee including tuition fee, library fee, gymkhana fee, examination fee, development fee or amount payable for any curricular or co-curricular activities, laboratory fee, information brochure fee and any other amount collected from the students, by whatsoever name called, and accepted in whichever manner, that is made payable to a private school;15(f) "management" means the managing committee or the governing body, by whatever name called, of the private school to which the affairs of such schools are entrusted and where such affairs are entrusted to any person,  by whatever name or designation called;20(g) "national authority" means the national authority for the regulation of fee in private schools constituted under section 4;(h) "parent" means biological or adoptive mother or father of a child; (i) "pre-primary school" means a nursery, junior kindergarten, senior kindergarten level or any school imparting education for children between the age of three to six years, by whatever name called and of any medium attached in the prescribed manner to the school, but does not include a creche;25(j) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act;30(k) "private school" means an unaided school, whether recognized or not, which is not run by the appropriate government, or its local authority or any other authority designated or sponsored by appropriate government and includes a preprimary, primary, middle, higher secondary and senior secondary school and also other institutions which impart education or training below the degree level but does not include an institute which imparts technical education;(l) "profiteering" means any amount accepted in cash or kind, directly or indirectly which is in excess of the fee approved as per the provisions of this act;(m) "regulations" means the regulations framed by the authority;35(n) "school" means a pre-primary school, primary school, school imparting elementary education, secondary school, higher secondary school or junior college recognized by the government and managed by any management and affiliated to any indian or foreign board, whether aided, partially aided or un-aided;40(o) "stake-holders" means the management, the students studying in the respective institution and their parents; and(p) "state authority" means the state authority for regulation of fee in private schools constituted under section 64 (1) the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette, constitute a national authority to be known as the national authority for regulation of fee in private schools for carrying out the purposes of this act(2) the national authority shall consist of—constitution of the national authority for regulation of fee in private schools5(a)  a chairperson and six other members having atleast twenty-five years of experience in the field of school education, public affairs or administration of educational matters;(b) following ex-officio members—(i) the chairperson, central board of secondary education (cbse);10(ii) the commissioner, kendriya vidyalaya sangathan (kvs); (iii) the director, national council of educational research & training(ncert);(iv) the chairperson, national council for teacher education (ncte); (v) the chairperson, national institute of open schooling (nios);15(vi) the commissioner, navodaya vidyalaya samiti (nvs); (vii) the chairperson, national bal bhavan; and(c) an eminent economist and a statisticianto be appointed by the central government in such manner as may be prescribed20(3) the term of office of the members of the national authority shall be five years and they shall not be eligible for re-appointment(4) the salary and allowances payable to and other terms and conditions of service of chairperson, other members, eminent economist and statistician shall be such as may be prescribed5 the national authority shall,—functions of the national authority25(a) prescribe the fee to be charged by a private school;(b) define the principle of 'reasonable surplus' and 'non-profiteering' on the basis of cost-fee analysis by private schools; and(c) undertake such other function as may be assigned to it by the central government, from time to time306 (1) every state government shall, within three months from the date of cominginto force of this act and in consultation with the respective state school education boards, by notification in the official gazette, constitute a state authority to be known as the state authority for regulation of fee in private schoolsconstitution of the state authority for regulation of fee in private schools35(2) the state authority shall consist of such number of members representing the state school education boards, teachers, parents and students to be appointed by the state government concerned in such manner as may be prescribed7 the state authority shall,—functions of the state authority40(a) ensure that the fee structure submitted by the private schools within the state conforms to the principles of 'reasonable suplus' and 'non-profiteering' defined by the national authority under section 5; and(b) undertake such other function as may be assigned to it by the state government, from time to time8 the central governemnt shall, on the recommendations of the national authority, determine the maximum amount of fee that can be charged by a private schoolcentral government to prescribe the maximum amount of fee5private school to formulate the fee structure9 every private school shall, subject to the maximum amount of fee determined by thenational authority under section, formulate its fee structure in consonance with the principles of 'reasonable surplus' and 'non-profiteering' as defined by the national authority under section 5penalty10 any private school, which demands or accepts any fee or donation, in any mannerwhatsoever, in violation of the provisions of section 9 shall, without prejudice to proceedingsfor prosecution under the provisions of this act or any other law for the time being in force, be subject to following penalties:—10(i) the recognition of such private school shall be withdrawn; and (ii) such private school shall be liable to a penalty which may extend upontwenty lakh rupees;15provided that a school shall be given reasonable opportunity of being heard beforeany decision on its derecognition is taken11 the central government shall, after due appropriation made by parliament by law in this behalf, provide requisite funds to the state governments for carrying out the purposes of this actcentral government to provide funds2012 notwithstanding anything contained in this act, the provisions of this act, shallapply to minority institutions only if the management of such institutions convey to the appropriate government their willingness for regulation of fee in such institutionsapplication of act on minority educational institutions in certain situation13  the provisions of this act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in forceoverriding effect of the act2514 the provisions of this act shall  be in addition to and not in derogation of anyother law for the time being in forceact to supplement other laws power to make rules15 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rulesfor carrying out the purposes of this act30(2) every rule made under this act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before each house of parliament while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both the houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both the houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule statement of objects and reasonseducation is listed as a subject in the concurrent list of the constitution of india, meaning that schools, including private schools, are governed by both central and state laws the last decade has witnessed growth in both the number of private schools in india and the proportion of children enrolled in them the proportion of private schools rose from 1949 per cent in 2007-08 to 2274 per cent in 2014-15 around the same period, the share of enrolment of children between the ages of six to fourteen years in private schools rose from 193 per cent to 308 per centparents spend a significant portion of their income to educate their children, a burden that is often greatest for the poorest families there is ample evidence that these costs are a barrier that prevents some parents from enrolling or keeping their children in school for some families, the desire to send their children to school results in parents making sacrifices in other areas of their livesthe supreme court as well as the high courts of various indian states have censured'commercialisation of education' and banned the charging of capitation fee in tma pai foundation vs state of karnataka (2002), the supreme court ruled that the fee chared by private unaided institutions can be limited by the state to prevent profiteering, while allowing for 'reasonable surplus' in 2003 in islamic academy of education vs state of karnataka (2003), the supreme court observed that the educational institutions can form their own fee structures, and the funds must be used to provide facilities to students and to further the growth of the educational institutions in line with the supreme court's judgement, some states did set up committees to monitor the fee structure of educational institutions but, there is no framework at the national level prescribing the criteria for limits on fee and the definition of terms 'reasonable surplus' and 'profiteering'in the words of babasaheb ambedkar, education authorities cannot be treated on the basis of quid pro quo; rather it is something "ought to be cheapened in all possible ways to the greatest possible extent"  therefore, government should stop the commercialisation of education and regulate with a uniform fee structure across private schools in india such a regulatory mechanism will reduce rampant exploitation of the public and help improve educational qualityhence this bill new delhi;boora narsaiah goudfebruary 9, 2018 financial memorandumclause 4 of the bill provides for constitution of national authority for regulation of fee in private schools it also provides for appointment of a chairperson, an economist and statistician to the national authority clause 6 provides for constitution of state authority by the state government concerned clause 11 provides that the central government shall provide adequate funds to the state governments for carrying out the purposes of the act the bill, therefore, if enacted, would involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a sum of rupees twenty-five crore would be involved as recurring expenditure per annum from the consolidated fund of indiaa non-recurring expenditure of about rupees ten crore is also likely to be involved memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 15 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill as the rules will relate to matters of detail only, the delegation of legislative power is of a normal character a billto provide for regulation of fee in private schools with a view to make educationaccessible to all and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto—————(dr boora narsaiah goud, mp)mgipmrnd—4198ls(s3)—05-03-2018