The Delhi government has decided against implementing the fee regulation law for private schools this year, it told the Supreme Court on Monday. The move came after the court asked the Directorate of Education (DoE) to reconsider its decision on implementing the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Act, 2025.
Private schools moved the court seeking a stay on the implementation of the law from the academic year 2025-26.
Additional solicitor-general (AGG) SV Raju, appearing for the Delhi government, presented a February 1 (Sunday) gazette notification of an order to a bench of justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe, saying the schools shall not charge any fees over and above what has been charged from April 1, 2025, for the current academic year (2025-26).
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“Any exorbitant fee charged by schools for the academic year 2025-26 shall be regulated and dealt with in accordance with law, subject to the final outcome of the proceedings challenging the vires of the Act and the Rules presently pending before the High Court of Delhi and the Supreme Court of India,” said the order.
The bench considered the order and said wisdom seems to have prevailed. It observed that its only concern was the “hurry” with which the law was sought to be implemented from the current academic year.
“In view of the clarification of ASG SV Raju, appearing for DoE, that the legal regime will not be implemented from 2025-26, no further order is required to be passed at this stage,” said the bench as it closed the appeals of schools.
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It allowed the schools to request early disposal of their petitions in the high court, challenging the validity of the law.
On January 19, the Supreme Court observed that implementing the law for the present academic session would be “unviable”.
Schools appealed against an interim order of the high court on January 9, refusing to stay the law and the December 24 circular mandating its implementation. The schools were mandated to set up fee regulation committees by January 2026, instead of the July 15 deadline under the law. The Supreme Court had told the government to consider the practical difficulties of setting up the committees.