The Uttarakhand Un Aided Private Professional Educational Institution (Regulation of Admission and Fixation) Act

(1) This Act may be called the Uttarakhand Unaided Private Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fee) Act, 2006. (2) It shall apply to the whole of Uttarakhand. (3) It shall come into force immediately.

This Act applies to Unaided private professional educational institutions affiliated to State Funded Universities, Councils, Boards or other bodies established under Law, excluding minority institutions.

(a) Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee means the committee constituted by the State Government under section 4, for the regulation of admission and for the fixation and regulation of fee in private institutions, excluding minority institutions; (b) Permanent resident of Uttarakhand means a person defined as such from time to time by the Uttarakhand Government; (c) Common Counselling means the allotment of seats through single window system on the basis of merit earned by the applicants in the common entrance test and the options given by them; (d) Common Entrance Test means a written test conducted for determination of the merit of applicants for a specific professional course or a joint examination for more than one professional courses; (e) [Deleted]; (f) Fee means all fees including tuition fee and development fee; (g) General Category Seats means seats other than the seats reserved for reserved category; (h) Government means the Government of Uttarakhand; (i) Government/Government Aided Professional Institution means a professional educational institution established by the State Government/jointly funded by the State Government; (j) Governor means the Governor of the State of Uttarakhand; (k) Government Seat means such number of seats of private institutions as may be notified by the State Government: Provided that such seats shall not exceed 50 percent of the total seats in the course; (l) Management means any person or body, by whatever name called, controlling and managing a private institution; (m) Minority means the community notified under clause (p) of section 2 of the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions Act, 2004 (Act No. 02 of 2005); (m-m) Minority Institution means an educational institution established and administered by a minority after obtaining no objection certificate under sub-section (4) of section 10 of the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions Act, 2004 (Act No. 02 of 2005) or declared as such by an authority appointed by the State Government or by the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions; (n) Non-Resident Indian means an applicant who is born to parents who are of Indian origin and who is residing outside the country and who has passed the equivalent qualifying examination outside India; (o) Other Backward Classes means the citizens specified in Schedule 1 of the Uttarakhand (Uttar Pradesh Public Services Reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes Act, 1994) (Adaptation and Modification) Order, 2001; (p) Private Institution means unaided private professional higher educational institutions to which this Act applies; (q) Professional Educational Course means a course or courses notified by the State Government as professional course/courses for the purposes of this Act for obtaining a degree, diploma, certificate, by whatever name called; (r) [Deleted]; (s) Qualifying Examination means such examination as may be prescribed; (t) Reserved Seat means the reserved seats notified by the State Government in favour of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes in private institutions; (u) Sanctioned Intake means the total number of seats approved by the competent authority for admission in each course of study in a professional educational institution; (v) State Funded University means a university established and incorporated by an Act of the State Legislature and funded by the State Government; (w) State Legislature means the Legislative Assembly of Uttarakhand; (x) Unaided Institution means such a private professional educational institution which is neither an aided institution nor a minority institution; (y) University means a university declared as such according to rules; (z) Authority means the Appellate Authority constituted by the State Government under section 12 of the Act; (aa) Scheduled Castes means the castes specified as Scheduled Castes in relation to the State of Uttarakhand under Article 341 of the Constitution; (ab) Scheduled Tribes means the tribes specified as Scheduled Tribes in relation to the State of Uttarakhand under Article 342 of the Constitution.

(1) The State Government shall constitute an Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee comprising:-- (a) Retired Judge of High Court of nominated by the State Government - Chairman (b) Principal Secretary/Secretary, Medical Education (Ex-Officio) - Member (c) Principal Secretary/Secretary, Technical Education (Ex-Officio) - Member (d) Principal Secretary/Secretary, Law (Ex-Officio) - Member (e) A Retired Government Officer retired from a post not below the rank of Secretary to the State Government nominated by the State Government - Member (f) One Ex-Vice- Chancellor of the State University nominated by the Governor - Member (g) Two Eminent Educationist nominated by the State Government - Member (h) A renowned Chartered Accountant as defined in the rules nominated by the State Government - Member (i) Principal Secretary/Secretary, Higher Education (Ex-Officio) -Member Secretary. (2) The committee shall come into force from the date of its notification and the term of office of the nominated members shall be 03 years from the date of nomination or until they attain 65 years of age, whichever is earlier; Provided that the term of office of the Chairman of the The Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee shall be for a period of three years or until the attainment of age of 68 years whichever is earlier and in case of any vacancy arising earlier in the Committee, for any reasons, the State Government shall fill such vacancy, not later three months from the date of occurance vacancy, for the remainder of the term. (3) No act or proceeding of the Committee shall be deemed to be invalid by the reason merely of any vacancy in, or any defect in the constitution of the committee. (4) No person, who is associated with any private institution in any manner, shall be eligible for being as Chairman or a member of the Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee. (5) (i) The Chairman or a Member may, by writing under his hand addressed to the State Government, resign from the office of the Chairman or a Member, as the case may be, at any time. (ii) The State Government shall remove a person from the office of the Chairman or a Member referred to in sub-section(i) if the person :- (a) becomes an undischarged insolvent; (b) is convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for an offence which, in the opinion of the State Government, involves moral turpitude; (c) refuses to act or becomes incapable of acting; (d) has, in the opinion of the State Government, so abused the position of the Chairman or any Member as to render that person’s Continuance in office detrimental to the public interest or the Chairman or any Member of the Committee shall be removed, if he performs any act, which in the opinion of State Government is unbecoming of Chairman or member of the Committee; Provided that, no such Chairman or any member shall be removed by the State Government without giving him an opportunity of being heard. (6) The Chairman shall preside over the meeting of the committee and in absence of Chairman the committee shall choose one of its members for chairing that particular meeting and the Committee may adopt its own procedure as it deems fit. (7) [Repealed by Uttarakhand Act no 26 of 2018] (8) The Committee shall also hear complaints with regard to admission in contravention of the procedure laid down by the Committee. The Committee, after obtaining the evidence and explanation from the management concerned may take decision that the private institution has violated the procedure prescribed for admission or not. The committee may impose penalties. (9) The Committee shall have the power to regulate its own procedure not in consistent with the provisions of this Act in all matters arising out of the discharge of its functions, and shall, for the purpose of making any inquiry under this Act, have all the powers of a civil Court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 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) The discovery and production of any document. (c) The reception of evidence on affidavits. (d) The issuing of any commission for the examination of witness. (10) The committee or any officer authorized by it shall have power to inspect at any stage of the process of admission. If the committee arrives at the opinion that the admission process conducted by the private institution contravenes the specified procedure, the committee, after giving an opportunity of being heard may, penalize the institution. (11) [Repealed by Uttarakhand Act no 26 of 2018] (12) The Committee shall determine the fees for admission to professional courses of private institutions. (13) Before the commencement of the academic year, it shall be compulsory for every private institution to place before the committee the proposed fee structure of professional courses with all relevant documents and books of accounts for determination of fees. The committee after considering all the documents placed before it, shall determine the fee within one month maximum. In case the proposal for fixation of fee for professional courses is not placed before the committee, the private institution shall not run the course. Therefore the private institution shall not give admission in such course. (14) The fee determined by the committee shall be applicable on the private institution for a period of three years. After the expiry of the period of three years, the institution would be at liberty to apply for revision. The fee so determined shall be applicable to a candidate who is admitted to an institution in that academic year and that fees shall not be revised till the completion of his/her course in the said private institution. (15) The committee may enquire the following matters with regard to private institutions :- (a) Complaints with regard to collection of capitation fee. (b) Fee charged in excess of the fee determined. (c) Profiteering. (d) Violation of any of the provisions of this Act. In all such cases, the committee, after obtaining evidence and the explanations from the management concerned may issue directions or forward appropriate recommendations including withdrawal of affiliation to concerned university or imposition of penalty by the State Government after necessary action. (16) The State Government shall notify the remuneration and terms and conditions of service of the members of the committee.

(1) Having regard to -- (a) The location of the private institute; (b) The nature and requirements of the professional courses; (c) The cost of land and building, (d) The available infrastructure, (e) The expenditure on administration and maintenance; (f) A reasonable surplus required for growth and development of the professional institution, (g) Any other relevant factor; The Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee shall determine, in the manner prescribed the fee or fees to be charged by the private institutions. (2) No professional educational institution shall collect any fee by whatever name or form called from the candidate for admission to professional educational courses over and above the fee determined by the Committee. (3) The Committee may determine different fees in respect of different courses of professional education being offered at different institutions depending upon the factors as mentioned above and it may place similarity placed institutions in broad groups; Provided that the committee may fix higher fee to be collected by the private institutions from the non-resident Indian students for admission. (4) The Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee shall give the institution an opportunity of being heard before fixing any fee or fees.

(6) The meeting of the committee shall be presided over by the Chairman and in the absence of the Chairman, any one of the members shall be elected by the committee to preside over the special meeting and the committee may adopt its own procedure as it deems fit. (7) [***] (8) Complaints against admissions made by the committee against the rules propounded for admission, shall also be heard by the committee. After receiving the evidence and clarifications from the concerned management, the committee shall be able to decide whether the prescribed process of admission has been violated by the private institution or not. The committee may impose penalty on them. (9) The committee shall have the power to determine the procedure for all matters related to the performance of its duties, which are not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, and under this Act, for the purposes of inquiry into the following matters, it shall possess all the powers of a Civil Court while trying a suit under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908:- (a) Summoning and enforcing the attendance of any witness and examining him on oath; (b) Discovery and production of any document; (c) Receiving evidence on affidavits; (d) Constituting a commission for examination of witness. (10) The committee or any officer authorized by it shall have the power of inspection at any stage of the admission process conducted for private institutions. If the committee is convinced that the admission process conducted for the private institution is against the specified process, then the committee, after providing an opportunity of being heard, may impose a penalty on the institution. (11) [***] (12) The committee shall determine the fee for admission in the professional courses of private institutions. (13)(a) It shall be mandatory for every private institution to submit the proposed fee structure for professional courses to the committee along with all relevant documents and books of accounts for the purpose of fee determination before the commencement of the academic session. The committee shall determine the fee within a maximum of one month after considering all the submitted records. In case of not getting the fee determined by presenting the proposal regarding fee determination for professional courses before the committee, the course shall not be conducted by the private institution. Therefore, no admissions shall be given by the private institution in such courses. (14) The fee determined by the committee shall be applicable for a period of three years for private institutions. After the completion of the period of three years, the institution shall be free to apply for the revision of the fee. The fee so determined shall be applicable to the candidate who has taken admission in that institution in that academic session and until the completion of his course in that private institution, that fee shall not be revised. (15) The committee may inquire into the following subjects regarding private institutions:- (a) Complaints related to collection of capitation fee. (b) Charging fee more than the prescribed fee. (c) Profiteering. (d) Violation of any provision of this Act. After receiving proof and clarification from the concerned management related to all the above conditions, the committee may give instructions or may make appropriate recommendations, which includes canceling the affiliation from the concerned university or making the State Government take appropriate action to impose penalty. (16) The State Government shall notify the remuneration and terms of service of the members of the committee. No candidate shall be given admission in any private institution unless he possesses the prescribed academic or equivalent qualification: Provided that such candidates who are not permanent residents of the State of Uttarakhand shall be eligible for admission only on 50 percent of the seats of the total sanctioned admission capacity in the private institution. No candidate shall be admitted to a private institution unless the candidate possesses such educational or equivalent qualification as may be prescribed; Provided that the candidates who are not permanent residents of the State of Uttarakhand shall be eligible for admission only to fifty percent seats out of the total sanctioned intake in Private Institution.

All government seats shall be filled through the Common Entrance Test and Common Counseling.

(1) In an private institution, all seats other than the Government seats shall be filled through a Common Entrance Test and other common counseling. (2) Seats upto ten percent may be filled from amongst the non-resident Indian candidates. (3) [Repealed by Uttarakhand Act no 26 of 2018].

Private institution shall reserve seats for candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes from out of the total sanctioned intake seats in such a manner as notified by the State Government; Provided that where the seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes in private institution are left unfilled due to non-availability of the candidates, the same shall be filled from the candidates belonging to the same category appeared in common entrance test in order of merit based on waiting list; Provided further that if seats remain unfilled even thereafter, the same shall be filled by inviting applications again from the candidates of same category based on merit of Qualifying Examination; Provided also that if seats of a private institution remain unfilled even thereafter due to non availability of candidates, such seats shall be filled from the students belonging to non-reserved categories in the order of merit based on waiting list, described in section 8 of this Act.

In case seats other than reserved seats, whether government and General seats or otherwise, remain unfilled due to non-availability of candidates through common entrance test and common counseling, such unfilled seats shall be filled from the candidates appeared in common entrance test in the order of merit based on waiting list; Provided that if the seat or seats of a private institution remain unfilled even thereafter due to non-availability of candidates, the same shall be filed from the candidates of same category based on merit of Qualifying Examination by inviting applications again.

Any admission made in violation of the provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder shall be invalid.

(1) An Appellate Authority shall be constituted by the State Government, which shall consist of the following:- (a) A retired Judge of the High Court nominated by the State Government - Chairman (b) A retired officer nominated by the State Government who is not below the rank of Chief Secretary or equivalent level - Member (c) An eminent educationist nominated by the Governor - Member Any person or private institution who is not in agreement with the order of the Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee may appeal within one month of the receipt of the order. (2) The authority shall come into existence from the date of issue of the notification and the tenure of the nominated members shall be for a period of three years or until any nominated member attains the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier: Provided that the tenure of the Chairman of the authority shall be 03 years from the date of nomination or until attaining the age of 68 years, whichever is earlier and before this, if for any reason a vacancy arises in the authority, the State Government shall fill that vacancy for the remainder of the tenure within three months of the vacancy arising. (3) Any act or proceeding of the Authority shall not be considered invalid due to any error in the constitution of the Appellate Authority or merely due to any vacancy. (4) Any person who is associated in any way with any private institution shall not be eligible to be the Chairman or member of the Authority. (5)(one) The Chairman or any member may resign from the post of Chairman or member, as the case may be, at any time by a joint signed letter addressed to the State Government. (two) The State Government shall remove any person referred to in sub-section (one) from the post of Chairman or member, if that person:- (a) Becomes an un-discharged insolvent; (b) Is convicted of an offense, which in the opinion of the State Government involves moral turpitude and is sentenced to imprisonment; (c) Refuses to work or becomes incapable of working; (d) In the opinion of the State Government, the post has been misused by the Chairman or any member in any way, whereby the continuation of that person on the post has become harmful to the public interest or if the Chairman or any member does any such act, which in the opinion of the State Government is unbecoming of the Chairman or member of the Authority, then he shall be removed from the post of Chairman or member of the said Authority: Provided that such Chairman or any member shall not be removed by the State Government without providing an opportunity of being heard. (6) The meeting of the Appellate Authority shall be presided over by the Chairman and in the absence of the Chairman, any one of the members shall be elected by the Authority to preside over the special meeting and the Authority may adopt its own procedure as it deems fit.

(1) If any person or private institution violates the provisions of this Act, then the Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee or Appellate Authority may take one or more of the following actions against such institution/person: (a) May issue orders for the termination of affiliation of the institution with the affiliating statutory body or order the appropriate authority to terminate the recognition of the institution; (b) May issue directions to the statutory body, university or council to cancel the admission and registration of students admitted to the relevant institutions in contravention of this Act; (c) May issue directions to grant admission to such students who have been wrongly deprived in case of non-compliance with the provisions of this Act; (d) Financial penalties shall be imposed for every violation of this Act. This amount shall not be less than Rs. 10,00,000 per violation and shall be recoverable by the State Government as land revenue; (e) In case of excess fee charged by the private institution from any person, a penalty of five to ten times the excess amount collected per person/student may be imposed. The minimum penalty amount shall be Rs. 10,00,000; (f) May order the institution to refund any amount received in excess of the fee determined by the committee or any amount received as capitation fee or any amount received for profit, within such time as specified in the order: Provided that if the institution fails to refund the amount within the specified time, then it shall be recoverable as arrears of land revenue along with compound interest at the rate of 12 percent per annum and paid to the student; (g) May order the institution to stop admission or reduce the sanctioned intake in any professional course for such period as it deems fit; (h) The above directions and orders shall be binding on private institutions. Before taking any action as per the above, a reasonable opportunity to present their case will be provided to the concerned person or private institution before the Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee or Appellate Authority.

The provisions of this Act shall have an overriding effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent contained in any other Act.

The State Government may, by notification in the Gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act with retrospective effect.

Every rule made under this Act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before State Legislature, while it is in session for a total period of thirty days, which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions; and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session of the successive sessions aforesaid, if House agrees in making any modification in the rule or agree that the rule should not be made; the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule.

(1) If any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this Act, the State Government may, by notification or order, make such provisions which are not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, as appears to be necessary or expedient, for removing the difficulties. (2) Every Order made under this section shall, as soon as may after it is made, be laid before State Legislative Assembly.

No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against the State Government or any officer of the State Government or members of the admission committee and fee regulatory committee and appellate authority in respect of anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of the provisions of this Act.

Till the admission and fee regulatory committee under section 4 of this Act is constituted and established the committees constituted by the State Government under Hon'ble Supreme Court Judgment in Islamic Academy of Education and others Vs State of Kamataka shall continue to be in existence and shall remain functional. These committees may exercise all or any of the powers and responsibilities conferred under this Act.

(1) The Uttarakhand Unaided Private Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fee) Ordinance, 2006 is hereby repealed. (2) Notwithstanding such repeal, anything done or action taken under the said ordinance shall be deemed to have been done or taken under the corresponding provisions of this Act.