A state-appointed monitor, working on ways to regulate CBSE and ICSE schools, has recommended an act or a statute to establish control over the institutions.

?There should be a penal provision in the act itself, similar to or on the lines of the West Bengal Schools Control of Expenditure Act,? observed the committee in the seven-page report, submitted to the government on Friday.

?Under the existing system, there is no rule that empowers the state government to take penal measures against any ICSE or CBSE school,? explained panel chairman Ardhendu Sekhar Biswas, who is also commissioner in the school education department.

?Hence, we have recommended an act that will empower the government to take action against errant schools. The act will help the government check irregularities in these institutions,? added Biswas.

The 12-member committee was set up in July last year, following complaints from a section of guardians and teachers that several of the 400-odd ICSE and CBSE schools in the state were charging high tuition fees but not offering commensurate facilities.

The committee has accepted in the report that the strategy it had adopted to collect data from the schools ? by distributing a questionnaire ? had proved a failure. Only a handful had bothered to send in their replies, and that, too, after a series of reminders.

The schools were asked to provide information about their infrastructure, laboratory and library facilities, teachers? pay-scales, admission system and the fee structure, among other aspects of their functioning.

?... the crux of the problem faced by the committee was simple... The state government is not equipped with necessary legal back-up to ensure that non-government academic institutions admit the authority of the government and respond to references made to them,? the report said.

?Members of the committee feel and recommend that there should be legal provisions, in the form of a statute ? act, rules, etc ? empowering the state government to ensure that at least a basic minimum standard is maintained in these institutions,? the panel spelt out.

Panel member Ismail Nehal, who is also president of the Association of Teachers of Anglo-Indian Schools, said: ?A statute or an act has become imperative to check the irregularities prevailing in a section of ICSE and CBSE schools, which are mushrooming in the city.?