Overview
- The government said an inquiry committee headed by a retired High Court judge will be constituted within a day or two, with a Deputy Secretary to supervise the process.
- Shiv Sena MLA Mahesh Shinde alleged roughly ₹40,000 crore in graft over eight years and cited cases where fees were set at ₹1.5 lakh despite an estimated ₹75,000 level, claiming to hold electronic proof.
- Complaints allege colleges padded expenses through salaries for non-existent staff, charges for unfinished construction, and other inflated costs used to justify higher fees.
- Officials said confirmed wrongdoing could trigger refunds to parents as well as a Special Investigation Team, FIRs, or an Economic Offences Wing probe, with preliminary findings to guide transfers of implicated officials.
- The context includes the FRA’s fee-setting method based on audited costs and prior CAG objections over its spending, plus separate cases already filed against the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology and the Ratnamala Institute.