Private unaided schools can charge over 5 paise as late fee: Delhi HC

On November 15, a bench of justices Vibhu Bakhru and Amit Mahajan said that “substantial autonomy is provided to the private unaided schools in matters of charging fees”

The Delhi high court has held that private unaided schools in the Capital can charge students more than five paise per day as fine for late payment of fees after the 10th of every month.

The association of around 500 private unaided schools, represented by advocate Kamal Gupta had said that the charging of late fees of ₹50-100 is not a source of income but a deterrent to stop the practice of payment of fees beyond 10th of every month. (Representative image/HT Archive)

Setting aside a department of education order dated February 11, 2013, which said that according to Rule 166 of Part B of Chapter XIII of the Delhi School Rules, such schools cannot charge any fine in excess of five paise per day on account of late payment of fees by the student, the court said that the rules are applicable only to aided schools, not to private unaided schools.

The court also said that the state government is expected to expedite the process and make the recommendations within a period of eight weeks.

“Even though we are of the view that Rule 166 is not applicable in relation to private unaided schools, it is relevant to note that way back in 2013, when the impugned order dated 11.02.2013 was passed, the DoE had mentioned that the Committee has been set up for review of the said provision. We expect the respondent (DoE) to expedite the process,” the court said in a 23-page judgment made available on Friday.

On November 15, a bench of justices Vibhu Bakhru and Amit Mahajan said that “substantial autonomy is provided to the private unaided schools in matters of charging fees”.

The judgment comes on a plea by Action Committee Unaided Recognised Private School challenging the 2013 DoE order. The association of around 500 private unaided schools, represented by advocate Kamal Gupta had said that the charging of late fees of ₹50-100 is not a source of income but a deterrent to stop the practice of payment of fees beyond 10th of every month.

Rule 166 specifies the fine for late payment of the fees, which the school is entitled to charge. It gives power to the school to charge from the student five paise for every day of delay in payment of the fees after the tenth of the month for which the payment becomes due. The charge of five paise for every day of delay is commensurate with the fee, which aided schools are allowed to charge.

The court said that the provisions of Part B, Chapter XIII of the Delhi Schools Rules, 1973, which determines the conditions on the collection of fee is not applicable to the unaided private schools is not applicable to private unaided schools. It said that a “holistic reading of Chapter XIII of the Rules leaves no doubt that the said chapter, in its entirety, is applicable in relation to fee and other charges collected by aided schools”.

“This (Rules) is in contradistinction to the fee leviable by the aided schools, which is governed by Chapter XIII of the Rules. The private unaided schools are free to fix their fee structure, which in our opinion, not only includes the tuition fees but also other charges and contributions payable by the student,” the court said in a judgment of November 15, which was uploaded on the high court’s website on Friday.

The judge held that the Chapter which starts with the rule defining fees to be collected by aided schools and, thereafter, specifying various rules in relation to such fees collected by the aided schools cannot be applied to private unaided institutions solely for the reason that some of the rules do not expressly specify that they are applicable to ‘aided schools’.

It, however, said that it would be inherently inconsistent to suggest that the schools are free to levy the fee after taking into account the need to generate funds but will have to levy a fine for late payment at the rate of five paise per day.

“It is an admitted case that the fee charged from students in a private unaided school is much higher than the fee charged from a student in an aided school. This is because the fee charged by private unaided schools is guided by various other factors as well, as explained and noticed by the Supreme Court in various judgments...,” the bench said.