Pvt schools can’t collect unregulated fee from April 1: Delhi govt to HC

New Delhi: Delhi govt told the high court on Friday that private schools cannot collect fees from April 1 for the new academic session, unless it is determined and approved in accordance with the new fee-regulation law.Opposing pleas moved by several schools' associations seeking a stay on the govt mandate to constitute school-level fee regulation committees for the upcoming academic year, additional solicitor general S V Raju said the consequences would be "disastrous" and no prejudice would be caused to the schools at this stage by forming such a panel.A bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia was hearing the petitions filed by the schools' associations challenging the Feb 1 notification of the govt on setting up the committees within 10 days."My case is that schools cannot charge anything other than the approved fee under the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Act. They cannot collect from April 1 because the Act prohibits it. The Act prohibited for the earlier year also, but it has somehow been kept in abeyance. From April 1, 2026, if they want to collect fees, which is unregulated, they cannot do it," the senior law officer said on behalf of Delhi govt.Raju defended the Feb 1 notification and said the process to determine school fees started "earlier" than prescribed so that the fee is determined before the new academic session, in accordance with the new law.The court listed the matter for hearing on Feb 24 and also extended till then the Feb-10 deadline set by Delhi govt for private schools to form the fee regulation committees. The court asked the senior counsel appearing for the Action Committee Unaided Recognised Private Schools to explain why they did not want to set up the committees.Senior advocate Akhil Sibal said the Feb 1 notification is legally unsustainable as it changes the timeline prescribed in the Act. He said under the Act, the process has to begin in July of the preceding academic year and accused the govt of "rushing". The power to fix the fee has been given to someone else and it was "practically impossible" to conclude the process for the upcoming academic session as the law required an unanimous decision on the committees, he added.In its response filed to the petitions, the Directorate of Education has said if the Act is not allowed to be implemented from April 1, it will defeat its objective — to have regulated fees from the beginning of the academic year 2026-27. PTI