Ahmedabad, April 25 (PTI): The Gujarat government today issued rules for the act regulating the fees charged by private schools through four regulatory committees.

The Gujarat Self Financed Schools (Regulation of Fees) Act, 2017, came into force this month.

The bill had been introduced by the BJP government with the aim of controlling the "exorbitant fees" charged by private schools.

According to the rules, all private schools that want to charge fees in excess of what has been prescribed in the act need to submit a proposal with a fee regulatory committee.

The fee structure prescribed in the act for primary, secondary and higher secondary schools is Rs 15,000, Rs 25,000 and Rs 27,000 a year.

On receiving the proposal, the committee will listen to the school management and record its statement justifying the increase beyond the cap suggested in the act. The committee will take a decision within 90 days of receiving the proposal, the release said.

The committees will have the power to initiate inquiry suo motu against any school found to be charging fees above the limit without sanction and pass an order to refund double the amount of the excess fee to the parents, according to the release.

If the school fails to refund the amount within 15 days of getting the order, the government will charge interest at the rate of 1 per cent a day.

In Bengal, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had said in the Assembly on March 3 that there was a "need to do something to control private schools". "There are some private schools that are very good. But some of them charge so much in fees and donations. I think this needs to stop," she had said.