The State government will take action, if approached, on complaints of collection of fee in excess of what has been prescribed by the Private Schools Fee Determination Committee, according to School Education Minister C.Ve. Shanmugam.
Referring to observations of S. John Jacob (Congress) and A. Ganesh Kumar (Pattali Makkal Katchi) in the Assembly on Wednesday, Mr. Shanmugam recalled that when K. Govindarajan headed the committee, it had stipulated the fee structure. Later, the Madras High Court held that the amount collected over and above the prescribed fee should be regarded as deposit.
The appeal of some schools for revision was pending before the Committee, currently headed by K. Raviraja Pandian.
Till this matter is disposed of, the fee structure will hold good.
As per the law governing the Committee, there was no provision for the government to intervene at the present juncture.
The report of Justice Raviraja Pandian was awaited.
Minister takes exception
The Minister took exception to the two members' remarks on the issue and said they had sought to portray as if the collection of exorbitant fee was being allowed after the new government took office.
Electricity Minister Natham R. Viswanathan said that the government had not abandoned the Chennai Metro Rail project. It had decided to take up the monorail project as this could be executed faster than the other project which, he said, would take 10-15 years for completion. He asserted that monorail systems were being successfully run in several countries in Europe and Asia.
K. Thangavel (CPI-M) and P. G. Narayanan (AIADMK) explained the problem of closure of dyeing and bleaching units in the western belt of the State and wanted the government to resolve it early.
