HC notice to Bhujbal for 'defrauding' students

The Bombay High Court on Monday issued notice to Maharashtra PWD Minister Chhagan Bhujbal seeking his reply to a PIL alleging that his trust, which runs the Bhujbal Knowledge City in Nashik, defrauded students and government into paying excess fees to the tune of Rs 8 crore since 2010. The PIL alleges that Bhujbal and his Mumbai Educational Trust (MET) institute defrauded the Shikshan Shulk Samiti - the government committee that sets fees for private professional institutes. It has demanded quashing of the fees, returning excess amounts to students, suspending the trustees and appointing an administrator.

The PIL filed by freedom fighter Balasaheb Jhambulkar has named Bhujbal, founder trustee of MET along with his wife Meena, son Pankaj, nephew Sameer and co-founder of MET Sunil Karve.

 

A division bench of justices S A Bobade and Mridula Bhatkar issued notice to all the respondents including Bhujbal and directed them to file their reply to the allegations leveled in the PIL. According to the petition, Bhujbal's trust running four institutes in Nashik of management, polytechnic, engineering and pharmacy, "fraudulently" showed inflated amounts as expenses when there were none. The trust thus misled the committee into fixing higher fees. The committee fixes fees based on valid and permitted educational expenses actually incurred by privately-run institutes.