Delhi high court seeks govt reply on private schools' plea against fee panel circular

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday sought the Delhi government's stand on pleas by private schools against a Directorate of Education circular to constitute the 'School Level Fee Regulation Committee' (SLFRC) in accordance with the latest fee regulation law. The applications form part of the petitions assailing the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Act, 2025 on grounds of it being malafide, biased, arbitrary and malicious in nature.

A bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia issued notice on applications by the schools and asked the government to file its objections. The counsel for Action Committee Unaided Recognised Private Schools urged the court to protect them from any coercive action by the authorities over failure to constitute the SLFRC.

The bench said the main case was listed for hearing on July 20 and the petitioner can approach it if any adverse action is taken in the meantime. "If they precipitate, inform us. Wait till July 20," the court stated. The counsel for the petitioner submitted that despite the court putting in abeyance the government's February 1 mandate to private schools to constitute the SLFRC for the ongoing academic session, the authorities issued an "identical" circular on June 30.

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The circular "reiterates and resurrects" the very same directions to constitute the SLFRC and submit the proposals of fee for a block of three years, including the session 2026-27, the application by Action Committee said. "... the DoE still directing constitution of the SLFRC and submission of proposal for fee increase by the Schools, including the academic year 2026-27, is illegal, to say the least," the application argued.

Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the Delhi government, submitted in court that on February 28, the court did not stay the implementation of the legal mandate to schools to constitute an SLFRC. On February 28, the court had deferred the implementation of the Delhi government's mandate to private schools to constitute the SLFRC for the upcoming academic session.

Putting the February 1 notification of the Delhi government on the constitution of SLFRC in abeyance, the court had said the schools shall be entitled to collect the same fees for the academic year 2026-2027 as they did the previous academic year. Under the new framework, every private school has to constitute an SLFRC. The committee has to include representatives from the school management, the principal, three teachers, five parents and one nominee from the DoE.

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The SLFRC has to examine fee proposals submitted by school managements and take a decision within 30 days. The move marks the implementation of a new law to regulate and bring transparency to the fixation of private school fees from the current academic session. The Act, which has been challenged by several private schools, was notified on August 14, 2025, and came into force on December 10 of that year.