HC refuses to stay order directing pvt schools to form fee regulation panel

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to stay a notification directing private schools in the national capital to constitute fee regulation committees but extended the time for setting up such panels.

A bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia issued notice to the Delhi government’s Directorate of Education and the lieutenant governor on a batch of pleas challenging the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Act, 2025, and its subsequent rules, and asked them to file their replies.

The petitions also challenged the December 24, 2025, notification of the Directorate of Education (DoE) for the constitution and functioning of the School-Level Fee Regulation Committee (SLFRC) for the academic session 2025-26 under the legislation and its rules.

The court, which refused to stay the notification, extended the time from January 10 to January 20 for the constitution of such committees. It also said the last date for submission of the fee proposed by the school managements to the committees should also be extended from January 25 to February 5.

“In the meantime, as an interim measure, we provide that any exercise undertaken in terms of the impugned notification of December 24, 2025, issued by the DoE, GNCTD, shall be subject to further orders passed in these petitions,” the bench said. Under the new framework, every private school will have to constitute an SLFRC. This committee will include representatives from the school management, the principal, three teachers, five parents and one nominee from the DoE. Members would be selected through a lottery system in the presence of observers to maintain transparency.