NEW DELHI: The Delhi government has told the Delhi High Court that the right to administer educational institutions does not include the right to profiteer or charge capitation fees, while defending its new law regulating private school fees.
In a response to petitions challenging the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Act, 2025, the Directorate of Education (DoE) said the legislation was enacted to curb commercialisation and profiteering in education in line with the National
Education Policy, 2020.
It argued that the law does not violate the rights of minority institutions under Article 30 of the Constitution, stating that the right to administer does not include the right to “maladminister”.
Several school bodies, including the Action Committee Unaided Recognised Private Schools and the Forum of Minority Schools, have challenged the Act, calling it arbitrary and violative of the rights of private school managements.
A bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia has listed the petitions for hearing in April.
The DoE said the Act only creates a “reasonable mechanism” to prevent profiteering while allowing schools to determine their fees. It added that more than 85 per cent of around 1,300 schools have already complied.
Under the law, each private school must form a School-Level Fee Regulation Committee to examine fee proposals and decide within 30 days.