New Delhi, Feb 26 (PTI) Constitution of a school-level fee regulation committee (SLFRC) is a “mammoth exercise” which cannot be concluded within 10 days for the upcoming academic session starting April 1, the Delhi Public School (DPS) Society on Thursday told the Delhi High Court.
A bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia was hearing petitions by several schools’ associations challenging a February 1 notification by the Delhi government asking schools to set up the SLFRC within 10 days.
Seeking a stay, senior counsel Puneet Mittal, appearing for DPS Society, contended that as per the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Act, selection of five parents for the SLFRC has to be done through a public draw of lots in the school premises after due notice, and it cannot be concluded in a rushed manner.
“25,000 students in Delhi is what we have.. So it’s a mammoth exercise. It is not an exercise at the click of a button. It is not desired to be like that. It is not designed to be like that. It is an exercise involving a lot of resources, and surely this can wait,” he argued.
Mittal also emphasized that while the SLFRC must include at least one member belonging to scheduled castes, scheduled tribes or socially and educationally backwards classes, the schools had no such data with them as there was no mandate on them to maintain such a record.
“In school, from elementary education to higher secondary education, there is not even a question asked at any stage on which religion or caste you belong to. We have admission in Delhi only on point-based system,” he explained.
The counsel said that the schools even had children of other nationalities and collection of data on caste of students could not be done in a short span of time.
“All this is to be done in terms of the notification of February 1 within 10 days. Is it possible? Is it not a mammoth exercise? What was the urgency?” he asked.
The court will hear the matter next on February 27.
The Delhi government earlier told the court that private schools cannot collect fees from April 1 for the new academic session unless it is determined and approved as per the new fee regulation law.
In its response filed to the petitions, the Directorate of Education has said if the Act was not allowed to be implemented from April 1, it would defeat the object of the Act, i.e. to prevent profiteering and have regulated fees from the beginning of the academic year 2026-27.
The Action Committee Unaided Recognised Private Schools, an umbrella body of private schools in Delhi, has contended that the February 1 notification was legally unsustainable as it changed the timeline prescribed in the Act and it was “practically impossible” to conclude the process for the upcoming academic session.
On February 1, the Delhi government issued a gazette notification to “smoothen” 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 SLFRC within 10 days of the publication of the order.
The Gazette further said that school managements must submit details of the proposed fee structure for the next block of three academic years 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. PTI ADS KVK KVK
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