SRINAGAR: Directing for appointment of an independent authority to inquire into the financial affairs of DPS, Srinagar, the Jammu and Kashmir Fixation and Regulation of Fee of Private Schools, has restrained the school management from altering the 2018-19 fee structure. A former judge leads the Committee with Director School Education and a senior KAS officer as members.
The Committee would consider the enquiry report after it is submitted within two months. The school management has been restrained from charging and collecting admission Fees, Refundable deposit/fee, security deposit from the students/parents for the time being.
The 25-page order is the tell-tale accounts statement of the school that apart from the routine classwork also runs a school for the special children, a fact admitted by the Committee also.
The interesting observation is that the school run by the DP Dhar Trust has Mr and Mrs Vijay Dhar as trustees along with their two sons. The trustees have given loans to the Trust from the personal account and also their land on rent. On these two accounts, the trustees, according to the order are taking huge amounts from the school earnings. For the loans they are charging 12 per cent of interest, which, the Committee suggested could have been cheaper had they been raised from the financial institutions.
In six years ending 2020-21, the Committee said the creditors have taken Rs 45165304 as interest. “The school has been set-up in the year 2003. Since all the details are not provided about the payment of the interest, it needs only to be visualized as to how much huge amount has be drawn from the school funds on account of payments of interest and paid to the creditors,” the order by the Committee has observed.
In the last four years ending March 2021, the order has said that landlords (the trustees) have been paid a whopping Rs 53370400. “It can be visualised ha how much rent has been paid from school funds to the landlords from 2003 when the school was set up,” the order observed.
The order has repeatedly mentioned, Mrs Sunanda Dhar is being paid a monthly salary of Rs 127995. The trustees have booked an expenditure f Rs 15.89 lakh as travel expenses. The school has 11 cars, two load carriers and three scooters. “At whose disposal the cars are? Details thereof are lacking and what is the need of keeping 11 cars in school is also not spelt out,” the order observes.
“The Receipts & Payments Statement shows that from 01.04.2017 to 31.03.2018, the persons whose details are given hereinabove, which includes 02 of the Trustees viz; Sh Vijay Dhar and Smt Kiran Dhar have advanced loans to the DPS Trust to the tune of Rs 3,11,00,000/- and the creditors have received an amount of Rs 5,69,22,000/- in the same year from the School Funds,” the Committee order reads. “Similarly, during the period 01.04.2018 to 31.03.2019, an amount of Rs.3,40,00,000/- is provided as loan to the School and during the same period, an amount of Rs.5,40,80,275/- has been paid to these persons who have provided the loan/financial assistance.”
Apart from land that the trustees have leased to the Trust, some of the buildings have been constructed by some of the trustees which have also been given on rent to the school. One building is being utilised as a hostel and the Committee says the school is not a boarding school.
“The amounts advanced by creditors is far less what is being received by them as is shown in the afore-mentioned instances of 02 financial years,” the document observes.
The school, according to the document has collected tuition fee, admission fee, annual fee and an advance fee of Rs 22.59 crore in 2017-18 against which it has spent Rs 14.38 crore as salary to the staff, allowances, gratuity, provident fund and Administrative charges. “These figures for this academic session are sufficient to show that huge savings to the tune of Rs.8,20,43,016/- has been made,” the document reads.
Again a fee collection of Rs 25.71 crore in 2018-19, the DPS management spent Rs 14.98 crore on salary and other things thus making a net saving of Rs 10.72 crore. The saving in 2019-20 were at Rs 7.46 crore.
The receipts and payments statements of these years “further show that every year loan is being advanced by a particular group of people to the school and they are receiving back, prima facie, more than what has been advanced as loan to the school/trust,” the FFRC order said. Led by Justice (retired) Muzaffar Hussain Attar, it has Secretary BOSE Manisha Sarin and Director of School Education, Kashmir, Tassaduq Hussain Mir, as its members.
“From the above-stated facts, it prima facie appears that by a well-thought-out plan, the educational institution is being used for earning huge money, which money could not have been earned by big business houses,” the panel document observed. It has questioned the requirement of raising loans when the school has a huge income.
“The facts which have unfolded from the record in this case call for thorough inquiry in the financial affairs of DPS School, Athwajan, Srinagar, to ensure that there is no commercialisation of education,” the Committee said.
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