Penalties

(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.