Thane civic body illegally collects ₹ 5 cr from Eng medium students
The corporation admits its mistake and is ready to return the money
An RTI filed by an organisation working in the field of education has revealed that the Thane Municipal Corporation has been collecting fees from its English medium students illegally since many years.
The Thane Corporation on the other hand has accepted the mistake and is ready to return the money back but has asked for the directions from the government.
The Thane Municipal Corporation runs municipal schools through an education board. Children from all over the city study in these civic schools.
However, the corporation has been collecting huge amount as fees from its English medium students.
An RTI filed by the ‘Saman Shikshan Mulbhut Adhikar Samiti’ revealed that the corporation has collected almost Rs 5 crore as fees from these students. The committee wrote a letter to the state Chief Secretary requesting an inquiry into this.
As per the directions from the Deputy Director, Town Development Department, Mumbai, the Thane Corporation was supposed to return this amount to the students but has done nothing so far.
The corporation was also asked to return 10 times fine and Rs 6,000 to each student.
The committee has also demanded strict legal action against the concerned officials.
The Thane Municipal Corporation decided to start the English medium schools in 2003. In the same year, the corporation received an amount of Rs 6 lakh as fees.
The Indian Constitution’s Fundamental Rights Act (2002) (Education Right Act 21) includes free education and therefore, the corporation’s resolution itself is illegal, claims the committee.
“When the Constitution has given the right to have free education to students, the corporations are bound to follow the constitutional norms. We are even planning to go to the court regarding this issue,” said Ghanshyam Sonar, member of Saman Shikshan Mulbhut Adhikar Samiti.
The whole scam was re- vealed when the committee had contacted a municipal school in Uthalsar for an admission in 2017. Then the committee filed an RTI and wrote to the Chief Secretary of State seeking action against in this regard. The Corporation Commissioner on 1st June 2017 gave orders to education board to abolish the fee system.
The civic school in Lokmanya Nagar demanded fees for conducting cultural programme which was illegal. When the parents and the committee intervened, the Principal had to admit demanding money and it was returned to the students.
On July 4, 2017, Town Development Department ordered an inquiry into the issue. Also, the Deputy Director, Mumbai division wrote a letter to the Thane Corporation asking them to return the money to the students. The issue later was dispatched to MP Supriya Sule who also wrote to Thane Corporation on November 28, 2017.