New Delhi, February 28 The Delhi High Court on Saturday deferred the implementation of the Delhi government's directive to private schools to form a 'school-level fee regulation committee' (SLFRC) for the upcoming academic session.
A bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia said, while petitions challenging the government's decision are pending, the constitution of the SLFRC will remain in abeyance, and schools will be entitled to collect the same fees for the 2026-2027 academic year as they did for the previous academic year.
Any exorbitant fees, the bench added, will be regulated according to the law.
The bench passed the order in response to pleas by several school associations seeking a stay on the February 1 notification by the Delhi government, which directed schools to set up the SLFRC within 10 days.
The petitioners include Delhi Public School Society, Action Committee Unaided Recognised Private Schools, The Forum of Minority Schools, Forum for Promotion of Quality Education for All, Rohini Educational Society, and Association of Public Schools.
"It would be expedient to defer the constitution of the SLFRC during the pendency of the petitions, as it would be difficult to proceed by March 12, 2026," the court opined.
The schools claimed that the notification was legally unsustainable as it changed the timelines prescribed in the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Act for the constitution of the SLFRC.
The government, however, argued that the "dates" in the Act were neither "sacrosanct" nor did they form part of its "basic structure", and therefore "minor adjustments" to such timelines as a special one-time measure would be permissible.
The government asserted that the Act was intended to prevent commercialization and profiteering by schools, and the notification would not cause any irreparable loss to the schools.
On February 1, the government issued a gazette notification to "smooth" the implementation of the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Act after the Supreme Court raised questions over its new fee fixation law.
According to the notification, every school was directed to constitute a school-level fee regulation committee within 10 days of the publication of the order.
It stated that school managements must submit details of the proposed fee structure for the next three-year academic block starting from 2026-27 within 14 days of forming the SLFRC, after which the committee will proceed to fix the fees according to the provisions of the Act.
