Maharashtra: Nagpur School Allegedly Defrauds 57 RTE Students, Collects Lakhs In Illegal Fees

Mumbai: A Nagpur-based school allegedly defrauded 57 students of lakhs of rupees although they did not have to pay any fees as they were supposed to get admissions through the Right to Education (RTE) Act. While the school said it “was a mistake” that has been rectified, activists and parents alleged the numbers will further rise after an independent enquiry and believed that more schools in the state may have duped more parents in a similar manner.

State government’s School Education and Sports department recently asked the Director of Primary Education (Directorate of Primary Education, Pune) and Education Officer (Primary), Nagpur to conduct an enquiry against the school and submit a report to the government after it received a written complaint from a Mumbai-based activist.

Nitin Dalvi, who is also the Mumbai region president of Maharashtra state student teacher parent federation, in his complaint alleged that Lakhotia Bhutada Vidyalaya in Nagpur district’s Katol taluka charged lakhs of rupees from poor parents whose wards should have gotten free admission under the RTE act. Dalvi further alleged that the school at the same time also received the money paid for the RTE students from the government. 

Rahul Laddhad, the trustee of the school, however, told the Free Press Journal that it was “a mistake” by the school and that the administration has already refunded the amounts to the aggrieved parents. “Because of some confusion we collected fees by mistake. Upon realising our mistake, we have already refunded the amount,” he said.

“We are not running the school just to make profits. In rural areas, we charge just Rs.20,000 for class 10 students which is very less when compared to other schools. We have always supported poor students. But because of two or three disgruntled people who want to demean the name of our school, we have faced eight enquiries in 15 months,” Laddhad alleged.

But according to Dalvi, the school management only refunded the fees after education officer of Nagpur district development council Siddheshwar Kaluse sent a report to Nagpur Divisional Deputy Director Ulhas Narad stating that Lakhotia Bhutada Vidyalaya had collected fees from the parents of 57 RTE students.

Imran Sheikh, who reached out to Dalvi for help after finding out that the school was allegedly charging fees illegally from the RTE students, said, “only after the district education department observed that the school was indeed charging fees illegally, then only they made the RTGS payments to the parents. Before that, we kept telling the school that the fees had been charged illegally since 2012, but they did not do anything about it.” 

“Extorting money from poor parents while also receiving the RTE funds from the government is a big crime. RTE Act as well as the Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Prohibition of Capitation Fee) Act have been violated. A criminal case should have been registered but the authorities did not do so. The school administration is said to have defrauded the parents by illegally collecting Rs10,34,400 while also receiving funds worth Rs.22,60,333 from the government,” alleged Dalvi. 

“The district education department is hand in gloves with the school management and that’s why no police complaint has been made so far. If the police independently investigate the matter, I’m sure the number will significantly rise from 57. Investigation may also reveal that more schools across the state would have taken fees from RTI students illegally,” claimed Sheikh.

In 2023, when the district education officer found out that the school had charged fees from the RTI students, he had advised for a police complaint to be filed. But in a letter to Kondhali police station sub-inspector in January this year, district education officer (middle) Ravindra Katolkar said that “there is no need” for a police enquiry as the matter pertains to the education department and it is already carrying the enquiry out. 

With the School Education and Sports department ordering a fresh enquiry into the matter last week, Dalvi and Sheikh hope that an FIR is finally lodged and investigation is carried out independently against the school.