Overview

• The Delhi High Court directed over 100 parents to deposit 50% of the school’s unauthorised fee increase plus the full base fee for academic years 2024-25 onwards to allow their children back into classes.
• Justice Vikas Mahajan made the interim order public on May 28, noting it remains operative until the Directorate of Education reviews the fee hike for potential ‘profiteering’ or ‘commercialisation.’
• The court emphasised that any coercive practices—such as deploying bouncers, expelling students or confining them to libraries—are impermissible when fees remain unpaid.
• The Supreme Court has issued notices to the Directorate of Education, Delhi government and private school bodies over a plea challenging the High Court’s allowance for fee hikes on government land without prior DoE approval.
• The Delhi government has proposed a new law to curb arbitrary fee increases by setting up fee regulation committees at school, district and state levels and penalising coercive actions.