Patna, Feb. 4: Patna High Court today empowered the state government to tighten the noose around errant coaching centres by ruling in favour of the constitutional validity of the Bihar Coaching Institute (Control and Regulation) Act, 2010. The high court ruled that the restrictions imposed by the act were “reasonable”.

Dismissing a bunch of petitions including that of Association of Coaching and School Activist, a division bench comprising Justice Shiva Kirti Singh and Justice Ravi Ranjan said: “In our view the aforesaid conditions are reasonable restrictions to achieve the purpose of the act which is to control and regulate private coaching institutes so that they can provide better academic support to the students.”

The bench, which had reserved the judgement on January 11 after a long hearing, delivered it today on a bunch of petitions challenging the act that fixes the minimum criteria to run coaching institutes. The criteria are likely to check the mushrooming of coaching institutes in the state capital.

One of the petitioners’ counsel, Gyanendra Kumar Singh said fixing graduation as the minimum qualification to run a coaching institute was harsh as many undergraduate and Plus II students earned a living by giving tuitions. The compulsory requirement of registering with the authorities made it difficult to run coaching institutes.

Singh also said the provision on the exorbitant fine, enshrined in the act was an anomaly.