The PIL alleges that Bhujbal and his Mumbai Educational Trust (MET) institute defrauded the Shikshan Shulk Samiti - the government committee that sets fees for private professional institutes. It has demanded quashing of the fees, returning excess amounts to students, suspending the trustees and appointing an administrator.
The PIL filed by freedom fighter Balasaheb Jhambulkar has named Bhujbal, founder trustee of MET along with his wife Meena, son Pankaj, nephew Sameer and co-founder of MET Sunil Karve.
A division bench of justices S A Bobade and Mridula Bhatkar issued notice to all the respondents including Bhujbal and directed them to file their reply to the allegations leveled in the PIL.
According to the petition, Bhujbal's trust running four institutes in Nashik of management, polytechnic, engineering and pharmacy, "fraudulently" showed inflated amounts as expenses when there were none. The trust thus misled the committee into fixing higher fees. The committee fixes fees based on valid and permitted educational expenses actually incurred by privately-run institutes in the previous accounting year.
The Bhujbal Knowledge City showed over Rs 4.6 crore allegedly not related to management courses as expenses between 2010-12 for its Institute of Management, the PIL says, resulting in fees of Rs 1.15 lakh in 2011-12 instead of Rs 83,000. It recovered an excess amount of Rs 1.5 crore from its students, the petitioner alleged and finds it "shocking" that an institute led by a cabinet minister is taking students and the state for a ride. PTI SP NP
