Constitution, composition, disqualification and functions of committee.

(1) The State Government shall, by notification in the official Gazette, constitute a Committee to be called the Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee, for the supervision and guidance of the admission process and for the fixation of fee to be charged from candidates seeking admission in a private professional educational institution. Provided that Notwithstanding anything contained in any act the fees once fixed shall be revisable every year or in a gap of three years as may be necessary, by the Fee Regulating Committee. (2) The Committee shall be presided by a Chairperson who has been a Vice-Chancellor of a Central University or a State University or an institution deemed to be University or a judicial officer not below the rank of Supertime scale or senior administrative officer not below the rank of Principal Secretary to the State Government or Joint Secretary to the Government of India and shall include four other members having expertise in matters of finance, administration or law, technical education and medical education. (Financial expenses will be met separately by the departments of technical education/medical education: Budget to meet out the expenses incurred in functioning of the committee will be allocated by the State Government separately every year.) (3) The term of the Committee shall be three years from the date of its notification and in case of any vacancy arising earlier, for any reason, the State Government shall fill such vacancy for the remainder of the term. (4) No Act or proceedings of the Committee shall be deemed to be invalid by reason merely of any vacancy or any defect in the constitution of the Committee. (5) No person who is associated with a private aided or unaided educational institution shall be eligible for being a member of the Committee. (6) The Chairperson or any member of the Committee shall cease to be so, if he performs any Act, which in the opinion of the State Government is unbecoming of Chairperson or a member of the Committee. (7) The Committee may frame its own procedure in accordance with the regulations notified by the State Government in this regard. (8) The Committee may require a private aided or unaided professional educational institution or a deemed University to furnish, by a prescribed date, information as may be necessary for enabling the Committee to determine the fee that may be charged by the institution in respect of each professional course, and the fee so determined shall be valid for such period as notified by the State Government. (9) The Committee may hear complaints with regards to admission in contravention of the provisions contained herein, collecting of capitation fee or fee in excess of fee determined or profiteering by any institution, and if the Committee after enquiry finds that there has been any violation of the provisions for admission on the part of the unaided professional colleges or institution, it shall make appropriate recommendation for returning any excess amount collected to the person concerned, and also recommendation to the Government for imposing a fine upto Rs. 10 Lakhs, and Government may on receipt of such recommendation, fix the fine and collect the same in the case of each such violation or decide any other course of action as it deem fit and the amount so fixed together with interest thereon shall be recovered as if it is an arrear of land revenue, and the committee may also declare admission made in respect of any or all seats in a particular college or institution to be dehors merit and therefore invalid and communicate the same to the concerned university, and on the receipt of such communication, the University shall debar such candidates from appearing in the examination and cancel the results of examination already appeared for. (10) The Committee may, if satisfied that any unaided professional college or institution has violated any of the provision of this Act and after approval of the State Government, recommend to the University or appropriate authority for withdrawal of the affiliation or recognition of such college or institution or decide any other course of action as it deems fit. (11) The Committee shall have the power to regulate its own procedure in all matters arising out of the discharged of its functions and shall for the purposes of making any enquiry under this Act have all the powers of a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908) while trying a suit in respect of the following matters, namely :- (a) summoning and enforcing the attendance of any witness and examining him on oath ; (b) requiring the discovery and production of any document; (c) receiving evidence on affidavits; (d) issuing commissions for the examinations of witnesses. (12) The Committee shall ensure that the admission in an institution is done in a fair and transparent manner.