Private schools in the national capital have initiated a significant legal battle against the Delhi government's recently enacted fee regulation law. The schools have filed a petition before the Delhi High Court, challenging the constitutional validity of the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Act, 2025.
Grounds for the Legal Challenge
The petition, filed in early January 2026, rests on three primary arguments. Firstly, the schools contend that the new legislation directly contradicts the existing Delhi School Education Act, 1973 (DSEAR). They argue that fees are already regulated under the older law, making the new act redundant and legally untenable.
A major point of conflict is the composition of the committee that decides fees. Under the DSEAR, a 21-member School Management Committee, dominated by 13 management representatives with only one parent and two teachers, held the power. The new law fundamentally shifts this balance, creating a committee where five parents, three teachers, and just one management representative hold sway. Schools assert this transfer of power from management to parents and teachers violates the earlier statute.
Autonomy and Operational Freedom at Stake
The second ground challenges provisions related to fee collection. The older law permitted schools to strike off a student's name for non-payment of fees. The 2025 Act, however, prohibits such action and threatens schools with penalties for any coercive measures against students. Institutions claim this strips them of a crucial mechanism to ensure financial sustainability and constitutes undue interference in their administration.
In their plea, the schools have strongly defended their operational independence. They state that allowing the "consumer of a service" to become the primary decision-maker, with overwhelming precedence over the service provider, is fundamentally flawed. They warn that requiring unanimous approval from parent-heavy committees will likely "create a perennial & never-ending confrontation" between school management and parents.
Concerns Over Parental Bias and School Development
The third major argument questions the logic and parameters of the new law. Schools insist that parents, who are directly responsible for paying increased fees, cannot be expected to impartially judge the necessity of those hikes. They fear parents may act unpredictably or unfairly by rejecting essential expenditures required for school maintenance, growth, and new facilities.
This, they argue, would ultimately harm the institution's academic standards and developmental trajectory. The petition also highlights that the new law's guidelines for deciding fees are weaker and incomplete, as they deviate from parameters previously established by the Supreme Court and the DSEAR framework.
Furthermore, the schools assert that their fundamental rights and autonomy previously exempted them from seeking prior approval from the Directorate of Education (DoE) for fee revisions for new academic sessions—a freedom the new law eliminates. They point out that earlier regulations consciously limited the education department's role to preventing profiteering, not controlling fee fixation, and explicitly excluded parents from the decision-making process.
The legal move comes just a month after the Delhi government brought the contentious Act into effect, setting the stage for a high-stakes judicial review that will determine the future of fee regulation and private school management in the capital.
