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The new Act requires that all fee hikes in private schools be approved through a three-tier committee system involving parents, school management, and government representatives.
The SLFRC will review fee proposals submitted by school management and make a decision within 30 days. (File)
The Delhi High Court on Friday requested responses from the Directorate of Education (DoE) and the Lieutenant Governor (LG) regarding pleas from several minority schools challenging the constitutionality of a law requiring government approval for fee increases, reported PTI.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia issued notices to the DoE and the LG of the Delhi government, asking them to submit their replies within six weeks.
Further hearings are scheduled for March 12.
The petitions challenge the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Act, 2025, along with its subsequent rules.
The court extended the deadline for forming committees from January 10 to January 20 and postponed the last date for school managements to submit proposed fees to the committees from January 25 to February 5.
The new Act mandates that all fee increases in private schools be approved through a transparent, three-tier committee system involving parents, school management, and government representatives.
Under this framework, every private school must establish a School Level Fee Regulation Committee (SLFRC). This committee will include representatives from the school management, the principal, three teachers, five parents, and one nominee from the DoE. Members will be selected via a lottery system in the presence of observers to ensure transparency.
The SLFRC will review fee proposals submitted by school management and make a decision within 30 days.
This represents the implementation of a new law to regulate and bring transparency to the fixation of private school fees starting from the current academic session. The Act will be enforced through a two-tier mechanism consisting of school-level committees and district-level appellate bodies.
The petitioners’ counsel argued that the composition of committees responsible for administration should not be determined by the state. They added that statutory committees involved in the administration of minority institutions should not include any outsiders, as this would violate Article 30 (Right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions) of the Constitution.
The petition stated that the petitioner schools have the fundamental right under Article 30 (1) of the Constitution to establish and administer educational institutions, which cannot be infringed by any legislation. It emphasised that no prior permission from the state is required for exercising the right under Article 30 (1) of the Constitution.
On Thursday, the court issued a similar order regarding a batch of petitions from several private schools.
Senior advocate S V Raju, representing the DoE, argued that there was nothing wrong with the Act, referencing several Supreme Court judgments interpreting Article 30, which permit regulatory measures by the government.
January 09, 2026, 20:21 IST
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