Fine on coaching inst charging exorbitant fees: Bihar edu min

In a crackdown on coaching institutes in Bihar, state education minister Ashok Choudhary today said that penalty of up to Rs 1 lakh could be imposed on coaching centres charging exorbitant fees and action would be taken if they do not comply with registration norms.
Replying to a question of Congress leader Dilip Chaudhary in the state Legislative Council, the minister said that action would be taken against the coaching institutes who fail to register themselves till today.
The education minister said that 978 coaching institutes had applied for registration in Patna out of which 233 have been registered while 77 applications were rejected. The process is on for the rest, he said.

The coaching institutes are registered at a charge of Rs 5000 under Bihar Coaching Institute (Control & Regulation) Act, 2010.
He said that in case of a complaint of an institute charging exorbitant fee, officials could impose a penalty between Rs 25,000 to Rs 1 lakh as per the provisions of the Act.
After the end of registration date today, the district magistrates would be asked to identify unregistered coaching institutes and initiate action against them, he said.