As schools challenge validity of Delhi’s new fee law, govt extends deadline for committee formation and fee hike proposal submission by 10 days
Delhi schools challenged an order of the Directorate of Education that directed the constitution and functioning of the school-level fee regulation committee for the academic year 2025-26.
3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jan 8, 2026 07:27 PM IST
In addition, district collectors have approved repair works for 20,383 school buildings damaged due to floods or excessive rainfall under the State Disaster Response Fund, he said. (File)
Acting on a bunch of petitions before the Delhi High Court, moved by schools in Delhi challenging the constitutional validity of the new school fee regulation law, the education department Thursday agreed to extend the deadlines for forming the school-level fee regulation committee (SLFRC) for the academic year 2025-26 and the submission of the proposal for fee hike by 10 days.
The Delhi government made the concession in the wake of a batch of fresh petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Act, 2025, and its rules. The new Act came into effect on December 10.
A key provision of the law mandates a three-tier committee structure to audit fee hikes and comes after years of friction between parent associations and private schools over arbitrary charges. The petitions also challenged an order of the Directorate of Education (DoE) of December 24, which issued directions for the constitution and functioning of the SLFRC for the academic year 2025-26.
Among the directions were that SLFRC should be constituted by January 10 and that the school managements’ fee hike proposal should be submitted to SLFRC by January 25.
Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing on behalf of DoE the Delhi government, on the urging of a division bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia, submitted that the deadline for constituting the SLFRC should be extended till January 20 and the last date for submission of the proposed fee hike by the school managements to SLFRC should be extended to February 5.
The bench issued notice to the DoE and the Delhi L-G, seeking their responses. However, it refused to stay the December 24 order of DOE. The matter will be heard next on March 12.
Among the petitions is one from the Action Committee of Unaided Recognised Private Schools, comprising more than 800 member schools. During the hearing, the association, represented by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi and advocate Kamal Gupta argued that the new legislation is a āresult of populismā, and has been enacted with no application of mind, being āmalafide, biased, arbitrary and malicious in natureā.
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The association, in its petition, submitted that, as education is in the concurrent list, the Delhi government lacks the competence to enact a law for fee regulation, as there is already parliamentary legislation, the Delhi School Education Act, 1973, in place.
Sohini Ghosh is a Senior Correspondent at The Indian Express. Previously based in Ahmedabad covering Gujarat, she recently moved to the New Delhi bureau, where she primarily covers legal developments at the Delhi High Court
Professional Profile
Background: An alumna of the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), she previously worked with ET NOW before joining The Indian Express.
Core Beats: Her reporting is currently centered on the Delhi High Court, with a focus on high-profile constitutional disputes, disputes over intellectual property, criminal and civil cases, issues of human rights and regulatory law (especially in the areas of technology and healthcare).
Earlier Specialty: In Gujarat, she was known for her rigorous coverage in the beats of crime, law and policy, and social justice issues, including the 2002 riot cases, 2008 serial bomb blast case, 2016 flogging of Dalits in Una, among others.
She has extensively covered health in the state, including being part of the team that revealed the segregation of wards at the stateās largest government hospital on lines of faith in April 2020.
With Ahmedabad being a UNESCO heritage city, she has widely covered urban development and heritage issues, including the redevelopment of the Sabarmati Ashram
Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025)
Her recent reporting from the Delhi High Court covers major political, constitutional, corporate, and public-interest legal battles:
High-Profile Case Coverage
She has extensively covered the various legal battles - including for compensation under the aegis of North East Delhi Riots Claims Commission - pertaining to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, as well as 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
She has also led coverage at the intersection of technology and governance, and its impact on the citizenry, from, and beyond courtrooms ā such as the governmentās stakeholder consultations for framing AI-Deepfake policy.
Signature Style
Sohini is recognized for her sustained reporting from courtrooms and beyond. She specialises in breaking down dense legal arguments to make legalese accessible for readers. Her transition from Gujarat to Delhi has seen her expand her coverage on regulatory, corporate and intellectual property law, while maintaining a strong commitment to human rights and lacuna in the criminal justice system.
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