MUMBAI: Touted as the most fool-proof, the scrutiny of records of state's flagship direct benefit transfer (DBT) scholarship scheme by the comptroller and auditor general (CAG) has revealed that the unaided private institutions were paid a fee which was more than the one fixed by fee regulatory authority (FRA). Lack of internal audit mechanism has been termed as the reason behind the irregularity.
"The fee fixed by FRA was all inclusive. However, the payment of separate fees under “other fees” over and above the fee fixed by FRA resulted in excess payment of scholarship of ? 53.41 crore to the institutions/students for the academic year 2018-19 and 2019-20," said the CAG report tabled in the state legislature on Friday.
The excess payment indicated absence of proper program change controls in the system as per the business rules, the report stated. The Fee Regulating Authority (FRA) was established (March 2016) under the Maharashtra Unaided Private Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admissions and Fees) Act, 2015 to decide the reasonableness of the fees levied by the unaided institutions.
Once the fee is approved, the same is notified by the FRA to the individual institutions as well as uploaded on the website of FRA. The fees fixed by FRA inter alia include tuition fee, library fee, gymkhana fee, examination fee, development fee or amount payable for any curricular or co-curricular activities and laboratory fee.
State's other backward bahujan welfare department (OBBWD), vide circular of March 2019 and Government Resolution of February 2020, categorised “other fees” into 16 categories due to recognition of the increase in items of “other fees” and decided to pay 16 categories of “other fees” through MahaDBT portal. The colleges/institutes were directed to upload the component-wise “other fees” in the 16 categories from 2018-19 with the approval of the competent authority / authority / administrative departments concerned. It was further directed that the concerned administrative departments have to ensure that the fee fixed by FRA does not include the “other fees” components.
However, the scrutiny of records revealed that the unaided private institutions were paid fees which were more than the fee fixed by FRA. The fee fixed by FRA was all inclusive fees. However, the payment of separate fees under “other fees” over and above the fee fixed by FRA resulted in excess payment of scholarship of ? 53.41 crore to the institutions/students for the academic year 2018-19 and 2019-20.
The OBBWD stated (December 2022) that it was examining the feasibility of integrating FRA with DBT, subject to instructions from the concerned authorities and further it would schedule a meeting with FRA, concerned departments and MahaIT for deciding the fee components. "Government should ensure that program change controls are adequate to prevent incorrect payment," the CAG has recommended pointing out the absence of a system of cross-verification of data.|
