KV Correspondent

LMD gets tough on private schools, imposes fine on leading schools

LMD gets tough on private schools, imposes fine on leading schools
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Srinagar: Amid the massive outrage against the open fleecing by the private schools, the Legal Metrology Department (LMD) has swung into action against these institutions for minting money from parents through illegal profiteering.
In wake of the complaints against the private schools, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Srinagar Syed Abid Shah constituted a team of officials from LMD, Revenue department and education department who inspected various private schools from past few days and imposed fine on the books sellers and the school management for indulging in restrictive trade practices.
The team inspected ‘Oasis school Gogi Bagh’, ‘Saint Mary School Padashi Bagh’ and some Book Stores in Jawahar Nagar and Zakura locality.
“During the inspection it was found that the schools are forcing parents of students to purchase books and stationery items from a particular Book seller,” deputy controller LMD Kashmir division said.
He said the team also inspected ‘Radiant Public (RP) School’ and ‘Kashmir Harvard’ and imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on the school management.
“A legal notice was served to the publisher identified as ‘Pearson My Pedia Private Limited’ Noida for supplying text-books to ‘Green Valley School’ which are without price tag and other mandatory declarations,” he said.
He said the cost of 17 books carry price Rs 5000 for 3rd primary but individual books within the pack are without any price tag which is in violation of Legal Metrology (Pc) Rules 2012.
“A book store was also booked for the violation of mandatory declarations for Rs 1000,” he said.
On Monday, the LMD imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on ‘Saint Joseph’s’ private higher secondary school Baramulla.
The fine was imposed after the parents of the students enrolled in this institution registered a complaint against school and a book shop for selling text books and stationery items on exorbitant rates.
The school management was imposed a fine for not complying with the LMD (Packaged Commodities) rules, 2011 in the sale of stationary packages.
Earlier divisional commissioner Kashmir had directed all DCs to constitute teams to check illegal profiteering by private schools. Director School Education Kashmir (DSEK) had said the department will rope in LMD to put a control on the sale of books at exorbitant rates by the private schools.


KV Correspondent

Kashmir Correspondent cover all daily updates for the newspaper

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