Delhi HC refuses to stay govt order on school fee panels, calls it one-time measure

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi said the notification was arbitrary as it allowed SLFRC to retrospectively fix fees for academic session that began in April 2025.

The Delhi high court on Thursday declined to stay a Delhi government notification directing all the schools in the Capital to constitute a fee regulation committee for the 2025–26 academic session, observing that it was only a “one-time” measures and that government had agreed to extend the deadline for its formation.

The court also issued notice in the petitions and sought responses from the DoE and the LG.

A bench comprising chief justice DK Upadhyaya and justice Tejas Karia noted that the proviso to Section 5 of the recently notified Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Act, 2025, expressly provides that the fees charged by schools for the 2025–26 academic session (starting April 1, 2025) shall be treated as “proposed fees”.

“It’s a one-time measure. It’s not by way of an administrative order but by way of legislation. Please formulate the committee. The act requires so. All this exercise shall be subject to the outcome of the writ petition,” the bench remarked. “At the moment we cannot issue an interim order staying the notification issued on December 24, 2025. If the legislature has provided something, it has to be read by one way or the other, it can’t be.”

The court also issued notice in the petitions and sought responses from the DoE and the LG.

The court passed the order while dealing with a batch of petitions challenging the constitutionality of the Act and the December 24, 2025, notification, which directed all Delhi schools, including private unaided, minority educational institutions, those given land on concessional rates, to constitute a School Level Fee Regulation Committee (SLFRC) for the current academic session.

The 11-member SLRFC, it said, must be constituted by January 10 and include a chairperson, a principal, five parents, three teachers, and one representative from the directorate of education (DOE).

The notification, which the government said was aimed at ensuring uniformity in fees for the 2025–26 academic session, required schools to submit their proposed fee structure within 15 days of the committee’s constitution (January 25). Any delay or non-compliance was made actionable under the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Act.

Urging the court to stay the notification, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi and advocate Kamal Gupta, appearing for one of the petitioners — Action Committee of unaided private schools — argued that the notification was arbitrary and illegal as it allowed the SLFRC to retrospectively fix fees for an academic session that began in April 2025, when only about three months of the session remained.

Rohatgi further contended that the notification had been issued by the DoE, even though such directions could only be issued by the lieutenant governor, and that it was contrary to the provisions of the Act, since it did not apply to fees for the current academic session, but from the next one.

This came after the DoE, represented by additional solicitor general SV Raju, submitted that the notification was a “one-time exercise” and the Act, as well as the rules, laid down separate rules for the current academic year. He, however, agreed to extend the time for the constitution of the committee and submission of fee proposals from January 10 and January 25 to January 20 and February 5.

In order, the court said, “Issue notice. In the meantime, as an interim measure, we provide that any exercise undertaken in terms of the impugned notification dated December 24 shall be subject to further orders that may be passed.”

The matter will be next heard on March 12.

The Act, notified on December 10, aims to rein in “arbitrary” fee hikes by private schools and provides a “permanent solution to a long-ignored issue that affects millions of parents and children in Delhi”.

It mandates that all fee hikes in private schools must be approved through a transparent, three-tier committee system involving parents, school management and government representatives.