The Delhi High Court has sought response from the Centre as well as the State Government on a PIl that alleges illegal fixation of fees by over 400 private schools built on Government land in the Capital.
The court issued notices to the Ministry of Urban Development, the Directorate of Education and the Delhi Government on the petition alleging violation by these schools as they raised the fees without the mandatory sanction from the Directorate of Education and the Delhi Government.
Criticising the top private schools for not abiding by the rules of the Master Plan, a division bench of Acting Chief Justice BD Ahmed and Justice Vibhu Bakhru, asked them to give a detailed reply or else strict action may be taken against them.
The bench also asked the Central and the Delhi Government to explain their failure to ensure the compliance of terms of allotment letter regarding prior sanction for the increase in tuition fees.
The petition — filed by ‘Justice for All’ — a civil rights group — contended that the Government had allotted land to charitable societies to run unaided schools which are bound by contract and allotment letter issued by the Government.
“Schools are under obligation for not increasing tuition fees without prior approval from the Director of Education, but they failed to abide the terms of the allotment letter and arbitrarily increased the tuition fees,” said the petition.
The petitioner submitted before the court, a sample of the allotment letter with an important clause which was accepted by the Supreme Court in a similar case. The clause said, “The school shall not increase the rate of tuition fees without the prior sanction of the Directorate of Education and shall follow the provisions of the Delhi School Education Act/Rules, 1973 and other instructions issued from time to time.”
Advocate for the civil rights group, Khagesh Jha, told the bench that the schools built on Government land raised the fee illegally; violating the Master Plan, land allotment conditions and the Delhi Development Authority Act, 1957. The petitioner submits that the aim and objective of the Delhi Development Authority Act, 1957 and Nazul land rules, 1981, is to provide social infrastructure to the residents of the locality either free of cost or at affordable rates.
The High Court also issued notices to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and fixed the matter for September 18.