Show accounts or no fee hike, Delhi govt tells private schools

LAYING TERMS Schools were allowed to raise fees to pay for salaries as per seventh pay commission

NEWDELHI: Delhi government has told private schools built on government land that they need to submit their financial records if they want to hike fees. The move comes after the government allowed these schools on October 24 to hike fee by up to 15% as an “interim measure” to fulfil recommendations from the Seventh Pay Commission.

Furnishing of their fiscal reports, the government has said, is a prerequisite for recognised unaided private schools built on DDA land to get permission for any fee hike.

If numbers from the last time such conditions were applied are an indication, it appears that a majority of these schools may not be hiking their fees. The last time the Delhi government asked such schools to submit financial records before increasing fees, only 168 of the 410 schools built on DDA land had applied for a fee hike.

Some of the most prominent Delhi schools come under this category.

Officials said that the DDA and other government agencies allot land to schools on certain agreements. As per their land agreements, 410 schools in the city are required to seek prior approval from Delhi government’s Directorate of Education (DOE) before hiking their fee.

Similarly, a separate condition requires that schools give priority to children living nearby in admissions. There are 298 schools, some of which may also be required to adhere to the clause about fee hike, that fall under this second category. The latter is under litigation as of now.

The rest of the schools are either built on private land or on land allotted by DDA or Land and