Registration and Establishment of Coaching Centre

13. Registration and Establishment of Coaching Centre (1) Any person operating a Coaching Centre in the State of Jharkhand, prior to the commencement of this Act, shall apply for registration through Web Portal within 06 (six) months from the enactment of this Act or such extended time as may be provided by the State Government, in such form and manner as may be prescribed by the Rules: Provided that, in case any person operating a Coaching Centre does not apply within the said period or time as mentioned above, it shall be declared to be in violation of this Act and penalized as per provisions of this Act or Rules made, or Orders issued thereunder. (2) All such applications submitted to the Committee as mentioned in sub- section (1) shall be decided on by the Committee within a period of 90 (Ninety) days from its submission: Provided that, in case the application is rejected and stands rejected after appeal to the Authority, then the Coaching Centre shall wind-off within 6 (six) months of rejection of its appeal by the Authority, and no new admission/ enrollment shall be allowed for such Coaching Centres. (3) Any person who desires to impart Coaching or establish or operate a Coaching Centre shall apply for registration to the respective Committee through the Web Portal with a non-refundable application fee as determined by the Authority. (4) In case a person operating the Coaching Centre has multiple campuses or branches within or outside the District, each of such campuses or branches shall be treated as separate Coaching Centre and it shall be necessary to submit a separate application for registration of each branch or campus in their respective District. (5) In case a person is operating or applying to operate a Coaching Centre through a franchise agreement, the application for registration must be made by the franchisor on behalf of the franchisee and it shall be the joint responsibility of the franchisor and franchisee to ensure complete and absolute compliance with the provisions of this Act, Rules made, or Orders issued thereunder. (6) Each application for establishment or Registration of a Coaching Centre shall contain information about the following aspects, namely: - (a) Infrastructure: - (i) the place of operation of the Coaching Centre with geotagged coordinates; (ii) complete and encumbrance free ownership or leasehold of the basic structure applying to be the place of operation for the Coaching Centre; Occupancy Certificate issued by the appropriate authority indicating the utilization of the place of operation for commercial purposes only, if applicable; (iii) allocation of minimum one square meter built-up area of the classroom for each student enrolled in the Coaching Centre for batches to be conducted concurrently, and shall have or has sufficient supporting infrastructure in proportion to the number of students enrolled; (iv) adherence of the place of operation to the applicable provisions of National Building Code, 2016 for educational institutions; Jharkhand Building Bylaws, 2016; and Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 or other standards and obtain or has obtained a Fire and Building Safety Certificate from the appropriate statutory or regulatory authority; (v) first aid kit and medical assistance, doctors for emergency services and display or has displayed details of all emergency services and women helpline at all prominent places in the place of operation; (vi) fully electrified, well ventilated, place of operation with sufficient lighting arrangements in each classroom; (vii) facility of safe and potable drinking water for all students and staffs of the Coaching Centre; (viii) suitable fitment of CCTV cameras and deployment of security personnel, as required; (ix) arrangements for Child Care facilities and facilities required for pregnant women or women with children below the age of 5 years, as required; (x) complaint box for the students and appropriate mechanism for timely resolution of any complaints or grievances; (xi) provision of separate toilets for male and female students within the Coaching Centre building premises; (xii) facility for parking of vehicles in proportionate to the enrolment of the Coaching Centre; (xiii) Infrastructure Utilisation Policy for deployment of adequate number of benches, chairs, smart boards, projector systems etc. to be utilised for conduction of Coaching Classes; and (xiv) any other conditionalities that may be prescribed by the Rules made, or Orders issued thereunder. (b) Course, Curriculum, Assessment and Fees: - (i) list of the courses, its curriculum along with detailed lesson plan and provisions for formative or summative assessment; (ii) indicative batch wise timetable for each course along with start date, end date and suitable breaks provided between each class; (iii) time of operation of the Coaching Centre within the maximum allowed time duration of 06:00 AM to 09:00 PM; (iv) the number of batches, batches to be held concurrently and maximum number of students to be enrolled in any batch, in any course; (v) disclose actual statistical information of students including total number of registered students, selected students and percentage of selection; (vi) special provisions made voluntarily to encourage greater representation of students from Schedule Tribes, Schedule Castes, Divyangjan, Economically Weaker Section; (vii) arrangements for separate duration of classes for students currently enrolled in any School or Educational Institution; (viii) tutors to be engaged for each course with their minimum educational qualifications and experience; (ix) prepare policy for tutor-student ratio and maintain the number of tutors as per the policy; (x) mechanism to apprise students about the difficulty of exams, syllabus, level of intensity of preparation and efforts required from the student before enrolling into the curriculum; (xi) regular parent-teacher meetings to showcase the progress made by the student and discuss any issues that may be affecting the education of the student; (xii) arrangements of remedial or support classes for students who require additional support in their academics; (xiii) the fees to be charged for the courses and their mode of collection, accounting and auditing; (xiv) mechanism for assessment of student in Online, Offline, or Hybrid mode and the safe storage of such assessments up to reasonable time after the completion of the course; (xv) details of computerized recording of daily attendance of every enrolled student; (xvi) easy exit policy, fee refund policy, and policy for transfer of candidature between Coaching Centres, if applicable; (xvii) copy of the statement of accounts for the last three (03) financial years audited by a Chartered Accountant; and (xviii) Any other conditionalities may be prescribed by the Rules made, or Orders issued thereunder. (c) Other facilities, such as: - (i) sufficient number of benches and desks for conduction of Coaching class proportionate to the number of students enrolled, as per the infrastructure policy of the Coaching Centre; (ii) sufficient weekly off-time without any lectures or assessments or tutorials or tests; (iii) mechanism for providing anonymous feedback for tutors and on the facilities available to the students; (iv) for Coaching Centres operating in Municipal Corporation, Municipality, Notified Area Councils, or any Urban Local Body Areas: - a. possession of a Valid Trade License issued by the Competent Authority under the Jharkhand Municipal Trade License Regulation, 2017 as amended from time to time, b. information about timely and complete payment of municipal property tax for the place of operation and adherence to the provisions mandated under Jharkhand Municipal Tax Payment (Time, Process and Recovery) Act, 2017; and (v) Any other conditionalities may be prescribed by the Rules made, or Orders issued thereunder. (7) The application for registration or establishment of a Coaching Centre shall be accompanied by an undertaking stating that, it shall: - (a) use only the word “registered Coaching Centre” and shall not use the words “recognized” or “approved” on any sign board or any prospectus or correspondence or communication of whatever nature or at any place; (b) clearly mention the CCR-ID and name of the Coaching Centre outside the place of operation, all academic and non-academic materials, advertisements, publicity related items or any other item utilised for the purpose of Coaching; (c) not conduct Coaching classes for those students who are also studying in institutions / schools during their institutions/ schools' hours; (d) provide the necessary information regarding the qualification of the tutors, timetable of the Coaching class, the fee charged and general information, as specified, regarding the Coaching Centre on their website and / or notice board at prominent places in the premises of the Coaching Centre; (e) Employ tutors having the minimum qualifications of Graduation, and who has not been convicted for any offence by a Court of Law and that any such conviction shall be immediately intimated to the Committee(s); (f) strictly abide by the condition regarding the specified number of students to be admitted in the Coaching Centre; (g) abide by its human resource policy which inconsistent with the Labour Law(s)/Code(s) mandated by the Central Government and State Government consisting of the provisions including but not limited to Service Conditions, pay, mode of engagement, social security benefits provided, provident fund, insurance, gratuity, working hours of the tutors and other employees; (h) engage at least one (1) certified mental health counsellors for every 1000 students enrolled in the Coaching Centre with free counselling sessions available for at least 200 calendar days; (i) provide a detailed progress report of the student’s learning and performance on a monthly basis to the students and their parents; (j) have a website with updated numbers. and details of the qualification of tutors, courses/curriculum, duration of completion, hostel facilities (if any), and the fees being charged, easy exit policy, fee refund policy, number of students undertaken Coaching from the Centre and number of students finally succeeded in getting admission in Higher Education Institutions etc.; (k) allow admission of students under subsidized or free schemes of the State Government; (l) disclose or inform the Committee about the possibility of any activity which may be against the interest of the State Government; and (m) abide by the other terms and conditions of this Act. (8) Further, the Coaching Centre shall also submit an Undertaking, with the application to not: - (a) engage tutors having qualifications less than graduation; (b) enroll students below 16 years of age or not having passed secondary school examination (matriculation) without the explicit written informed consent of his/her parents or guardian; (c) make misleading promises or guarantee of rank or good marks to parents/students for enrolling them in the Coaching Centre; (d) makes false claims regarding course(s) offered, duration of completion, credential of faculty, fee, course exit policy including fee-refund, regarding number of selections, rank in exam or success rate, guaranteed selection, job security, job promotions, salary increase, success at different stages of an examination, admission to any institution or lead the student to believe that enrolment in Coaching will ensure a good rank and high marks; (e) create a false sense of urgency including falsely stating or implying the sense of urgency or scarcity showing false popularity of goods or services so as to mislead a student into making an immediate purchase or require taking immediate action; (f) engage in any other unfair trade practice or misleading advertisement; (g) segregate or create special classes for students admitted through subsidized or free Coaching Schemes to be notified by the State Government; (h) engage or instigate or promote or facilitate or allow engagement of any tutor or employees of the Coaching Centre in any action or activity against the interest of the State Government; (i) facilitate or post or reshare or follow any post or information made against the State Government on any digital intermediary or platform as defined in the Information Technology Act, 2000; (j) publish or cause to be published or take part in the publication of any misleading advertisement relating to any claim, directly or indirectly, of quality of Coaching or the facilities offered therein, or the result procured by such Coaching Centre or the student who attended such class; and (k) carry out any actions or activities as may be mandated by the Act or Rules made, or Orders issued thereunder. (9) The application for registration or establishment of Coaching Centre shall be submitted after including the necessary information, undertakings in the manner and form as may be prescribed and shall be accompanied with non-refundable application fees as may be determined and notified by the State Government in the Official Gazette. (10) The Committee shall on receipt of the application, scrutinize it and if found satisfactory shall issue the Letter of Intent to the person within 90 (Ninety) days of receipt of its application: Provided that, if the application, in the opinion of the Committee, is not found to be satisfactory, then it may reject it and issue a Letter of Regret stating the reasons for rejection. The person shall have the option to appeal against such a rejection to the State Level Authority within 30 (Thirty) days. (11) In case the Committee, does not approve or reject the application within 90 (Ninety) days, the person shall have the option of appeal to the State Level Authority against such delay. (12) The Letter of Intent shall consist of the conditionalities to be fulfilled by the Coaching Centre and the time duration for its successful compliance. (13) Within 30 (Thirty) days of the issuance of the Letter of Intent, the person shall submit a Performance Bank Guarantee, valid for a period of 06 years from the date of issuance of Letter of Intent, based on the place of operation of the Coaching Centre as follows: - (a) Rs 5,00,000 for areas within Municipal Corporation limit; (b) Rs 1,00,000 for areas within Municipality or Notified Area Council (NAC) or other Urban Local Body limit; and (c) Rs 50,000 for areas not covered under (a) and (b). (14) Within 90 (Ninety) days of the issuance of the Letter of Intent, the person shall submit a compliance report to the conditionalities mentioned in the Letter of Intent: Provided that, in case the compliance to the Letter of Intent is not submitted by the person within 90 (Ninety) days of its issuance, then the issued Letter of Intent shall be withdrawn and any Performance Bank Guarantee submitted by the person shall be encashed by the Committee or any Officer authorised by the Committee. (15) If the Committee is satisfied that the person has complied to all the conditionalities of the Letter of Intent, then it shall approve the registration of the Coaching Centre and issue a Letter to Start Operations, within a period not exceeding 30 (Thirty) days from the submission of the compliance report: Provided that, in case the Committee is not satisfied with the compliance report submitted by the person, then it may direct submission of additional documents or conduct physical verification of the Coaching Centre by an Inquiry Committee constituted by the Committee or direct resubmission of the compliance report or reject the application received and cancel the issued Letter of Intent. It shall also encash the Performance Bank Guarantee, if submitted and issue a Letter of Regret to the person clearly mentioning the reasons of rejection. The person shall have the option to appeal against the rejection to the Authority within 30 (Thirty) days. (16) The validity of registration shall be five years from the date of its issuance, unless cancelled by the Committee or the Authority for any reason. (17) All Coaching Centres on successful registration and issuance of Letter to Start Operations shall be provided with a Unique Registration Number named as “CCR-ID”. (18) This CCR-ID shall have validity till the valid registration of the Coaching Centre and shall be deactivated on its de-registration. (19) The Coaching Centres shall prominently mention the CCR-ID in all form of advertisements and communication with the stakeholders. (20) The Authority shall have the power to mandate linkage of services, students, counselors or any other entity or activity to this CCR-ID. (21) The person shall apply for renewal of registration to the Committee on the Web Portal at least 06 months prior to the date of expiry of the registration of the Coaching Centre, in such manner and form, and with such a non-refundable fee as may be determined by the Authority along with such documents as may be prescribed. (22) The Committee shall, on receipt of an application for renewal of registration through Web-Portal along with the prescribed non-refundable fees, decide on the renewal of registration before the expiry of the registration period. (23) The Committee after due evaluation may, renew the registration of the Coaching Centre by extending the validity of the Letter of Start Operations for a subsequent period of up to 05 years or communicate the refusal thereof to the person before the expiry of the registration period, after recording the reasons for such refusal in writing: Provided that no order refusing the renewal of registration shall be passed after giving the person concerned a reasonable opportunity of to be heard. (24) In case the Committee decides not to renew the registration of the Coaching Centre, it shall direct the person to initiate procedures for Winding up and de- registration of the Coaching Centre as per the Winding-up Policy submitted by the Person. (25) During the winding up period, the Committee shall appoint an Overseeing Authority to oversee and ensure adherence of the Winding up process. (26) The Committee may liquidate the Performance Bank Guarantee of the de- registered Coaching Centre, in case the Coaching Centre is winding up or de- registered before the completion of its valid registration period.