MUST FOR PVT SCHOOLS TO SEEK GOVT APPROVAL FOR FEE HIKE: SC

A Bench led by Chief Justice of India J S Khehar said schools should shut down and vacate immediately if they are unwilling to abide by the condition on fee hike

NEW DELHI: In a major setback to more than 400 private unaided schools in Delhi, the Supreme Court upheld that schools erected on public land cannot hike fee without approval of the Delhi government.

The order assumes more significance due to its timing since the new fee structure by private schools were likely to be announced owing to impending nursery admissions.

A Bench led by Chief Justice of India J S Khehar said that schools should shut down and vacate immediately if they are unwilling to abide by the condition on fee hike. According to agreements entered into by over 400 schools with the Delhi Development Authority and the Land and Development department, a prior permission of the Delhi government’s Directorate of Education is mandatory for enhancing fee.

Since several schools had been breaching this condition, a clutch of PILS were filed in the Delhi High Court, which in January 2016 ruled that private unaided schools cannot hike fee without a prior approval of the DOE. Group of two societies managing private unaided schools had appealed against this order in the Apex Court, but the Bench dismissed the petitions saying the High Court order is “100 per cent correct”.

Meanwhile, the Delhi government will carry out an exercise in all schools run by it on Tuesday to get students’ feedback about problems faced by women and girls and ways to solve those under Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Abhiyan.

As part of the exercise, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday asked the students of Government Boys Senior Secondary School in Azadpur for their views about problems they feel women and girls faced earlier and if there is any change in the situation now. It is necessary that boys start thinking about the issue, he said. This exercise will be conducted in the government schools across Delhi on the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao day on Tuesday.