New Delhi. The Delhi High Court has stayed a circular issued by the Delhi government, which said that any recognized private unaided school in the national capital which has been allotted land by government agencies will be subject to the Director of School Education. (DOE) will not increase the fees for the upcoming 2024-25 academic session without prior approval.
Justice C Hari Shankar stayed the circular issued on March 27, which had barred all private schools from increasing fees without the prior approval of the Director of Education. The Directorate of Education had asked heads and managers of all private unaided schools to submit proposals for fee increase on its official website from April 1 to 15. The court has passed an interim order while considering the petition filed by the Action Committee Unaided Private Schools against the disputed circular.
Issuing notice in the petition, the Delhi High Court has said that it has been held in various judgments that private unaided schools are not required to take prior permission before increasing their fees, as long as they do not indulge in profiteering or profiteering by charging capitation fees. Do not commercialize education and there is a difference between ‘commercialization of education’ and making profit.
It said the Education Department should respect the Delhi High Court’s decision in Action Committee Unaided Recognized Private Schools vs. Education Department, which had held that private unaided schools must obtain ‘prior permission’ from the Education Department before increasing fees. ‘There is no need to take it. The court said that the education department continuously issuing circulars and threatening action in case of increasing fees without obtaining prior permission of the education department is objectionable and cannot be allowed.
The Court held that unless an injunction, interim or otherwise, is granted by the Division Bench, as per the principle of the Action Committee Unaided Recognized Private Schools, an unaided recognized school does not require the prior approval of the Directorate of Education before increasing its fees. . Even if it is situated on land to which the ‘Land Clause’ applies, the decision of the Action Committee Unaided Recognized Private Schools will be applicable and the Directorate of Education is required to respect that position.
,
Tags: Delhi Government, DELHI HIGH COURT
FIRST PUBLISHED: May 1, 2024, 21:07 IST