No private, unaided school in Delhi allotted land by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) can enhance fees without the prior sanction of the Director of Education. This will impact close to over 280 Delhi schools established on the DDA land. The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the appeal of the private school management challenging the clause contained in their allotment letter.
The Bench of Chief Justice JS Khehar, Justices NV Ramana and DY Chandrachud dismissed the appeal filed by the Action Committee of Unaided Recognised Private Schools and upheld the ruling given by the Delhi High Court on January 19, 2016.
Reacting to the SC order, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia called it a “historic decision” and said “justice has truly been delivered”. Sisodia urged the private schools managements to be more transparent in their admission and fee structure process, or face the consequences.
“You have signed a letter from the Delhi Government that clearly states that land is being allotted to you for educational purposes. If you are unable to abide by it, then let it go. The arbitrary fee hike will not be tolerated,” he added.
The order by the apex court will help several lakh students of these private schools. An NGO called Rs Justice for All’ had dragged the management of the 280-odd private schools to the High Court citing how some of these schools were openly flouting the allotment clause by arbitrarily hiking fees.
The affected private schools cited Section 17(3) of the Delhi School Education Act 1973 to argue that prior approval of the Director, Education is needed only when the fees is increased during an academic session. It was further urged that the condition imposed by DDA went against the Supreme Court decision in TMA Pai case of 2002. In this decision, the SC held that the right to fix a reasonable fee structure was an integral part of the fundamental right of private, unaided schools to establish and administer their schools.
But the Bench dismissed both the arguments. It said, “We fully agree with the High Court judgment. There is no dispute that schools cannot indulge in profiteering and commercialisation of school education.”
The HC went by the allotment condition fixed by DDA while granting the perpetual lease hold for societies to run schools. In return, these schools accepted a restriction barring them from hiking fees without prior approval of Delhi Government. Also, they were to reserve 25 per cent seats to admit economically weak students.
The HC held, “Quantum of fees to be charged by unaided schools is subject to regulation by Department of Education in terms of the power conferred under Section 17(3) of DSE Act and Director, Education is competent to interfere if hike in fee by a particular school is found to be excessive and perceived as indulging in profiteering.”