Key Points:
The Supreme Court expressed concern over the Delhi government’s hurried implementation of the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Act, 2025, despite supporting its intent. The Court warned that retrospective enforcement could disrupt the academic year and burden parents financially.
The Act introduces a three-tier fee approval mechanism, bars schools from removing students or withholding results over unpaid fees, and mandates refunds of unapproved charges. It also empowers the Directorate of Education to penalise and prosecute school managements violating the law.
The legislation follows widespread protests against steep, unapproved fee hikes in 2025 and incidents of student harassment, including removal from rolls and classroom exclusion. However, the Act continues to face criticism from both parents’ groups and school bodies over effectiveness and authority.
The Supreme Court on Monday, January 19, 2026, raised concerns on the Delhi Government’s hurried implementation of The Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Act, 2025. The Court observed that although it was in favour of the Act, its quick implementation would jeopardise the ongoing academic year, and create financial burdens for the parents.
The hearing was conducted by a bench composed of Justice PS Narsimha and Justice Alok Aradhe. While stating the fees for private schools in the Capital as phenomenally high, Justice Narsimha also observed that this comes before the findings and the proposal of the School Level Fee Regulation Committee (SLFRC). He emphasised that a hurried process would end up creating institutions which would not be viable.
Furthermore, Justice Narsimha stated that while the new legislation aimed for public welfare, the Government of Delhi was forcing people to implement it overnight. “This year has already started. This is completely convoluted. The approval should have been done by July (2025) and that has also passed. What is the over anxiety here?”, he added.
The Supreme Court directed to implement the act in a proper way, and not retrospectively. The hearing comes after the Delhi High Courts’ order hearing on appeals by school managements against the new legislation. Several Parents groups had also protested the act. Additionally, the High Court had also issued a notice on petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Act and the circular.
The Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Act, 2025 was tabled and notified on August 14, 2025, after getting the accession of Delhi LG (Lieutenant Governor) VK Saxena on August 13, 2025. The Act however, came into force on December 10, 2025, following which an official circular was issued on December 24, 2025, to the respected authorities notifying the implementation of the act.
The Act creates a three-tier approval mechanism for fees: each school must form a School-Level Fee Regulation Committee (with parents, teachers, management and a DoE nominee) by July 15 each year to vet and approve the school’s fee proposals. Approved fees (valid for three years) can be fixed or reduced by the committee but not raised. The Act also prescribes strict accounting norms and caps for certain fees. The Act also states that schools cannot, in any case, remove students from schools over unpaid fee issues, nor withhold their results.
The new education act also describes strict punishment measures for schools who do not adhere to these rules. According to Chapter 3, Section 12 of the Act, schools must rollback any extra fees not approved by the DoE, and reimburse it to the students in less than 20 working days. It also prescribes financial penalties if the schools do not comply with the legislation. Additionally, Chapter 3, Section 13 prohibits schools from attaining or recovering extra fee through coercive means. Furthermore, the Directorate of Education holds complete authority to prosecute the schools management indulged in violating the law.
The new Delhi’s Education Act was created keeping in mind the troubles students had to go through last year, facing increased fee hikes. In 2025, dozens of Delhi’s private schools imposed steep fee increases that drew sharp protests. Parents reported that some schools (notably on subsidised government land) raised tuition by as much as 100%, effectively doubling fees. Several parents protested against the fee hikes in May-June 2025. The hikes were implemented without the official approval of the Directorate of Education.
A parent coalition (United Parents’ Voice) submitted detailed memoranda to the government listing demands such as a halt to unapproved hikes, rollback of past increases, and a transparent grievance redressal mechanism. These protests followed repeated complaints that the government had failed to curb unregulated fee increases since 2019.
Crucial issues came to the forefront that highlighted the psychological troubles several students had to face. DPS (Delhi Public School) Dwarka in South-West Delhi struck several students names’ of the admission rolls who had failed to pay the new fees. The students were barred from entering classes, or often confined to the library when their parents refused the school’s unapproved fee hike.
The Delhi High Court however, addressed the issue in favour of the parents and the students, and instructed schools to immediately reinstate the students who had been removed from the rolls over the fee dispute. Parents described the school’s actions as mental harassment of children, as many students returned home in tears or became afraid to attend school. According to several Indian media outlets, similar reports came from other schools, such as Maharaja Agrasen Model School and Apeejay Sheikh Sarai, where families alleged coercive tactics to enforce fee payment.
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The new education act faces criticism from both parents’ bodies and school management bodies. Many parents’ organisations said that the new law didn’t implement strict enforceable measures, and lacked adequate representation of students’ stakeholders. They also said that the act didn’t protect students completely. On the other hand, school bodies have argued that the act goes against the Delhi Education Act, 1973, and decreases the authority of school management to regulate fees.
The recent Supreme Court remarks confirm that it supports the law’s intent but balks at applying it retroactively. The matter is listed for hearing further on January 27, 2029.
As the legal battle continues, the episode leaves an uncomfortable question unanswered: Can the education department and school managements justify treating students’ education and mental well-being as collateral damage in administrative and financial disputes, or will accountability finally extend to safeguarding the futures that schools are meant to nurture?
(GP)
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