Supreme Court To Hear Parents' Plea Against Fee Hike In Delhi Private Schools On Govt Lands

The Supreme Court on Thursday(May 29) issued notice to the Delhi Director of Education in a plea challenging the order of the Delhi High Court allowing the increase of fees by private unaided schools on government lands.The bench of CJI BR Gavai and Justice AG Masih was hearing a plea by Naya Samaj Parents Association challenging two orders of the Delhi High Court, which have allowed private schools based on Government Lands to increase their fees without prior approval of the Director of Education, Delhi Govt. The plea states that " Now private unaided Schools situated at Delhi have increased fees multifold mostly by up to 100% and taking penal actions against students, causing confusion and panic in the Delhi education."Notably, in April 2024, the Delhi High Court's Single Bench in its interim order observed : "The resultant legal position, as it exists today, following Action Committee Unaided Recognized Private Schools, is that an unaided recognized private school is not required to take prior approval of the DoE before increasing its fees, irrespective of whether the land clause does, or does not, apply to it." The said interim order was passed while hearing a writ petition by the Action Committee Unaided Recognised Private Schools. The single bench had stayed a circular issued by the DoE regarding the fee structure proposals of the private unaided schools. The above observation was made in paragraph 29, against which the present petitioners have moved the Apex Court. In the final order dated April 8, 2025, the Division Bench of the High Court dismissed the Letters Patent Appeal against the interim order on the ground that the present petitioner was not a party before the writ court.The petitioner contends that this observation of the High Court is contrary to the decisions of the Delhi High Court in Justice For All Vs Govt. of NCT of Delhi and the Supreme Court in Modern School Vs Union of India as well as Article 141 of the Constitution.In the case of Justice For All, the Delhi High Court held that " Quantum of fees to be charged by unaided schools is subject to regulation by DoE in terms of the power conferred under Section 17(3) of DSE Act, 1973 and he is competent to interfere if hike in fee by a particular school is found to be excessive and perceived as indulging in profiteering." It was further held that so far as the fees of unaided schools on DDA lands are concerned, they are bound to comply with the stipulation mentioned in their letter of allotment. It held that paragraph 28 of the decision in Modern School was binding on them, and the school cannot increase the rate of tuition fees without the consent of the DoE. Notably, in the Modern School Case, the Court issued a set of directions including that "It shall be the duty of the Director of Education to ascertain whether terms of allotment of land by the Government to the schools have been complied with." The Supreme Court here also referred to a clause of an allotment letter issued by DDA to such private schools which stated- "The school shall not increase the rates of tuition fee without the prior sanction of the Directorate of Education, Delhi Administration and shall follow the provisions of the Delhi School Education Act/Rules, 1973 and other instructions issued from time to time." In Paragraph 28 of the decision, the Court held : "We are directing the Director of Education to look into letters of allotment issued by the Government and ascertain whether they have been complied with by the schools. This exercise shall be complied with within a period of three months from the date of communication of this judgment to the Director of Education. If in a given case, the Director finds non-compliance with the above terms, the Director shall take appropriate steps in this regard."The matter will now be heard in June.Counsel for the petitioners: Mr. Khagesh B. Jha, Adv. Mrs. Shikha Sharma Bagga, Adv. Mr. Siddharth Krishna Dwivedi, AOR Mrs. Mini Kaushik, AdvCounsel for the Respondents : Mr. Kamal Gupta, Adv., Mrs. Tripti Gupta, Adv. Mr. Harshvardhan Jha, Adv. Mrs. Yugandhara Pawar Jha, AOR Mr. Sparsh Aggarwal, Adv. Mr. Aman Pathak, Adv. Mr. Sumeet Mishra, Adv. Mr. Mayank Kumar, Adv. Mr. Manish Gupta, Adv. Mr. Sandeep Gupta, AOR Mrs. Kanchan Gupta, Adv.Case details : NAYA SAMAJ PARENTS ASSOCIATION Versus ACTION COMMITTEE UNAIDED RECOGNIZED PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND ANR.| Diary No. 22050-2025

Supreme Court To Hear Parents' Plea Against Fee Hike In Delhi Private Schools On Govt Lands

Anmol Kaur Bawa

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