Maharashtra, which was at the centre of the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak that put its coaching industry under the spotlight, has released a draft Bill to regulate the sector.

Among its provisions are an explicit ban on school-coaching “integration”, better known as integrated coaching or the dummy-school model, with a provision to recommend derecognition of a school found actively involved in such violations; prohibition of coaching classes operating from basements; and a bar on hiring anyone against whom a cognizable offence has been registered. The rules would apply to any coaching centre with more than 25 students, has learnt.

If enacted in its current form, the law would be among the strictest and widest-reaching of the state coaching laws, a comparison by has found. On the size of centres covered, who can teach, penalties and enforcement powers, its provisions go further than those in Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Assam and Haryana, the only four states to have enacted dedicated legislation linked to the coaching industry after the Union Education Ministry’s January 2024 guidelines. Other states have brought in rules and guidelines.

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The draft Maharashtra Private Coaching Centers (Registration and Regulation) Bill, 2026, comes three months after the NEET-UG paper leak in which nine of the 13 people arrested were from Maharashtra, with Latur and Pune, two of the state’s biggest coaching hubs, at the centre of the investigation.

The School Education and Sports Department has released the draft Bill and invited suggestions and objections from the public until 6 pm on September 4.

Once finalised, the law would require every private coaching centre in the state to register, regulate its fees and comply with requirements on safety, staffing and student welfare. Existing centres would get six months to register through a state online portal, with registration valid for three years. Centres would also have to retain at least a month’s CCTV footage and hold fire and building safety certificates.

Lowest threshold, widest reach

The draft Bill casts a wide net as it would apply to any tuition or coaching centre teaching more than 25 students, the lowest threshold among the five laws. Rajasthan’s law applies to centres with more than 100 students, while Assam’s law applies to above 50. A neighbourhood coaching centre with 30 students, therefore, would fall outside the law in Rajasthan and Assam but would have to register in Maharashtra.

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The draft also goes furthest in deciding who can teach. It bars a coaching centre from hiring anyone against whom a cognizable offence has been registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita or the earlier Indian Penal Code. Rajasthan and Assam, in contrast, bar those convicted of offences involving moral turpitude. Haryana has no comparable provision.

No dummy schools, no basement classes

Two structural prohibitions are unique to the Maharashtra draft. It prohibits any “integration” between a coaching centre and a recognised school, targeting the dummy-school model in which a student is enrolled in a school but spends the bulk of the day at a coaching centre. The draft provides for a recommendation to the state government for derecognition of a school found actively involved in such violations. Coaching classes in basements would be prohibited outright.

The draft is also the most prescriptive of the five on student welfare. It mandates a weekly off for students and tutors and prohibits tests on the day immediately after that weekly off. Centres would have to schedule leave around major festivals, cap teaching at five hours a day and provide aptitude testing and counselling.

It would also regulate fees. A centre cannot charge more than the fee declared for a course or increase it during the course. If a student leaves, the centre would have to refund the unused portion, including applicable hostel and mess charges, within 10 days.

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The centres would also have to publish their tutors’ qualifications, fees and refund policy on their websites.

Fines up to Rs 50 lakh

The penalties proposed are among the steepest of the five laws and are graded according to the seriousness of the violation. Minor violations would attract a fine of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, rising to Rs 10 lakh for repeat offences.

Major violations, including operating without registration, false advertising and enrolling an underage child, would attract fines ranging from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 50 lakh. A centre could also be suspended, shut or deregistered. Haryana’s law, by comparison, starts at Rs 25,000, while Assam provides for a flat fine of Rs 1 lakh.

The draft also gives the state extensive enforcement powers. Inquiry officers can enter a coaching centre, search and seize records and CCTV footage and seal the premises. Every inquiry would be treated as a judicial proceeding. A centre would also have to act within 24 hours on any complaint under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act or workplace sexual-harassment laws.

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For all its severity, the draft has one provision that cuts against its otherwise strict approach. It bars the enrolment of children below 13, well below the minimum age of 16 prescribed in the Centre’s 2024 guidelines. Assam’s law follows the central benchmark.