<p>The committee will examine fee proposals submitted by school managements and take a decision within 30 days</p> — The committee will examine fee proposals submitted by school managements and take a decision within 30 days

New Delhi: The private schools in the city will have to abide by the new fee law for now as Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to stay a notification directing them to set up fee regulation committees.

The court, however, extended the deadline from Jan 10 to 20 for setting up the panels mandated under the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Act, 2025, and its subsequent rules. It also said the last date for submitting the fee proposed by the school managements to the regulation committees should be extended from Jan 25 to Feb 5.

A bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia issued notice to lieutenant governor and Directorate of Education (DoE) on a batch of petitions challenging the legislation and asked them to file their replies. The petitions also appealed against the Dec 24, 2025, notification of DoE for the constitution and functioning of the school-level fee regulation committees for the academic session 2025-26 under the legislation and its rules.

As an interim measure, any exercise undertaken in terms of the notification shall be subject to further orders, the bench observed when the petitioner schools pressed for a stay.

Under the new framework, every private school will have to constitute a fee regulation committee, which will include representatives from its management, the principal, three teachers, five parents and a DoE nominee. The members will be selected through a lottery system in the presence of observers to maintain transparency. The committee will examine fee proposals submitted by school managements and take a decision within 30 days.

The new law seeks to regulate and bring transparency to the fixation of private school fees from the current academic session through a two-tier mechanism comprising school-level committees and district-level appellate bodies.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing one of the petitioners — Action Committee Unaided Recognised Private Schools, submitted that the plea also challenged the constitutional validity of the Act, urging HC to stay the notification.

Terming it bad in law, Rohatgi pointed out that such an order or notification tweaking an Act could only be passed by LG, but in the current case it was done solely by DoE. Either the notification should be stayed or the court may pass an order for no coercive steps against the schools, he pleaded.

DoE, however, maintained that it could issue the notification. Represented by additional solicitor general SV Raju, the directorate agreed to the court’s suggestion to extend the time for compliance.

The petition of Action Committee Unaided Recognised Private Schools, filed by advocate Kamal Gupta, said the legislation violated the fundamental rights of the managements of private schools and was enacted with no application of mind, and was mala fide, biased and arbitrary in nature.