After NEET leak storm, Latur’s coaching capital faces closure | Mumbai News

“All activities being carried out other than manufacturing, including tuition classes, coaching classes, hostels, mess facilities, residential accommodation, study rooms and other businesses, should be closed immediately,” the letter issued by DIC General Manager Nikhil Patil stated. It further warned that “failure to comply with these directions will invite immediate action against the society.”

Asked about the reasons behind the order, Collector Dr Bharat Bastewad said the administration wanted to examine under what provisions coaching classes and related activities were being operated from industrial plots and whether all applicable rules were being followed. “It needs to be looked into under which clause the coaching classes are being operated in the area and whether all rules are being followed. We have sought a report and details regarding it. Once everything is examined, the District Industries Centre will take further steps since the matter falls under the DIC,” Bastewad said.

The action affects the Udyog Bhavan locality, home to some of Latur’s largest coaching institutes, including Renukai Career Centre (RCC).

Over the past two decades, the area has evolved into the centre of the city’s coaching economy, housing coaching classes, hostels, libraries, study rooms and mess facilities catering to students preparing for competitive examinations. Around a dozen major coaching institutes operate from the tuition area, with some running from multiple plots and others from single plots. Apart from coaching classes, the area also houses hostels, mess facilities, libraries, stationery shops and several other businesses catering to students.

The move comes days after the arrest of RCC founder Shivraj Motegaonkar by the CBI in the NEET UG 2026 paper leak case.

Investigators have alleged that questions circulated through RCC before the examination substantially overlapped with portions of the final NEET paper, drawing renewed attention to both the institute and the coaching hub from which it operates.

The Udyog Bhavan tuition area is where Motegaonkar built RCC into one of Maharashtra’s biggest coaching networks over the past two decades.

While complaints over the use of industrial plots have been pending for years, the administration’s intervention has come within days of the NEET paper leak probe and Motegaonkar’s arrest.

Officials, however, said the action follows long-standing complaints that industrial plots were being used for coaching institutes and related businesses. RTI activist Mallikarjun Bhaikatti, one of the complainants, has alleged that 62 of the estate’s 100 plots are being used for coaching and related activities, occupying more than 16 acres of the 26.32 acre industrial estate.

The order has sparked concern among coaching operators and local businesses, who argue that thousands of students and livelihoods depend on the ecosystem built around the coaching industry.

People associated with the sector claim RCC teaches around 40,000 students annually across Maharashtra, including nearly 20,000 in Latur alone. They also claim the coaching network generates annual revenues of more than Rs 100 crore.

At a meeting organised by the Latur Pattern Bachav Kruti Samiti on Friday, BJP state vice president Dr Archana Patil Chakurkar backed demands to grant the locality Special Education Zone status. Congress MLA Amit Deshmukh has also met coaching operators and business owners concerned about the future of the tuition area.

“The use of the area has changed, but it has also created jobs and helped shape the future of thousands of students,” said educational counsellor Sachin Bangad.

“Educational coaching centres are a service industry. Not every industry is about manufacturing,” a local coaching operator said. “If there are policy issues, the government should frame a policy and regularise these activities instead of ordering closures.”

Coaching operators and business owners contend that while allegations in the NEET case relate to specific individuals, the fallout is now being felt across the wider coaching ecosystem, including hostels, libraries, messes, transport operators, stationery shops and food outlets that depend on students coming to Latur every year.

Ashok Loya, president of the Latur Industrial Estate Co operative Society, questioned the administration’s move. “These establishments fall under the service sector and were allowed to operate by the administration a few years ago. Now suddenly they have issued a letter asking them to close. We are collecting documents and records, some dating back to 1965, and will file a writ petition in court. The authorities themselves had issued orders in the past permitting service-sector activities such as coaching classes to operate from the area,” Loya said.

Representatives of coaching institutes and local businesses said they would meet Collector Dr Bharat Bastewad and later approach Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis with a demand to regularise the area and recognise it as a Special Education Zone.