Delhi High Court Declines Stay Order Allowing Private Schools To Collect Annual Fees

The petitions moved on behalf of the students studying in the private unaided schools have contended that the single judge's May 31 decision was based on incorrect facts and law.

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New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday, declined to stay a single-judge order, which had allowed unaided private schools to collect annual and development fees from the students for the period post the lockdown in Delhi in 2020.

Appearing for the action committee, senior advocate Shyam Divan submitted that till the next date of hearing, the schools will continue to follow the existing principles with regard to fee collection.

A vacation bench of Justices Rekha Palli and Amit Bansal sought response from the action committee after several appeals, including one by the AAP government moved in the Delhi High Court against its single judge's decision allowing private unaided recognized schools to collect annual and development charges from students for the period after the lockdown ended in the national capital last year.

The petitions moved on behalf of the students studying in the private unaided schools have contended that the single judge's May 31 decision was based on incorrect facts and law.

Divan and Kamal Gupta, representing the association of private schools opposing the stay application, argued that the Delhi government had no power to interdict private contracts between schools and the parents of the students. The vacation bench said it is rejecting the stay application, adding that a detailed order will be passed later before scheduling the matter for before the roster bench on July 12.

Senior advocate Vikas Singh and the Delhi government counsel also argued against the order. The lawyers added that the single judge bench gravely erred in passing the directions based on a top court order in connection with the collection of school fees.

Singh said as per the schools' affidavit, 60 percent of tuition fees were sufficient for discharging their liabilities towards teachers' salaries and the rest of the amount can be utilized for other expenditures, including development charges.

The single judge, in his May 31 judgment, had quashed two office orders of April and August 2020 issued by the Directorate of Education (DoE) of the Delhi government forbidding and postponing collection of annual charges and development fees, saying they were "illegal" and "ultra vires" the powers of the respondent (DoE) stipulated under the Delhi School Education (DSE) Act and the Rules.

The single judge had said that the Delhi government has no power to indefinitely postpone the collection of annual charges and development fees by private unaided schools as it would unreasonably restrict their functioning.