Damoh School Ordered To Refund ₹6.75 Crore For Excess Fees, Fake Books

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Madhya Pradesh State Committee for Regulating Fee has directed St. John’s Senior Secondary School in Damoh to refund ₹6.25 crore collected as excess fees from students, return ₹52 lakh spent on books with fake ISBNs, and pay a fine of ₹2 lakh.

The decision upholds the Damoh District Committee’s January 17, 2025 order after an inquiry found that the school — largest and oldest private school in Damoh — overcharged students by more than 15% surplus over expenditure during three academic sessions.

Specifically, excess fees of ₹1.95 crore were collected from 2,160 students in 2022-23, ₹2.07 crore from 2,179 students in 2023-24, and ₹2.23 crore from 2,234 students in 2024-25.

The inquiry also revealed that out of 204 books prescribed by the school from private publishers, 101 had fake or duplicate ISBN numbers. Parents spent ₹52.24 lakh on these books, which the school has been ordered to refund.

The school had appealed the order, but the state committee dismissed it, pointing out deceptive fee practices. Fees were charged under different names for the same service, such as separate lab and science fees. Students from Class 3 to 8 were also charged an AI and Robotics fee. Moreover, parents making payments online were forced to pay ₹10-30 as a ‘platform fee’.