A day after the Delhi Cabinet approved an ordinance to regulate fee hikes by private schools, the Opposition parties on Wednesday took on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government over the “undemocratic” nature of the proposed law.
Education Minister Ashish Sood had announced the Cabinet decision a day earlier and said that the ordinance would be sent to President Droupadi Murmu for approval, after which it would be implemented retrospectively from April 1 this year.
While the Minister did not share details of the ordinance, including the manner in which it proposes to regulate fee hikes, a draft Bill — the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Bill, 2025, — the government had cleared earlier this year, mandates the formation of three regulatory committees at the school, district, and State levels to monitor and approve fee hikes. The Bill, which is yet to be tabled in the Assembly, also stipulates fines for increasing fees without approval.
AAP’s Delhi unit chief Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed that as per the provisions of the draft Bill, the “fees decided by them [fee regulation committees] will automatically be treated as approved. There will be no need to seek permission from any government body”. He demanded that the rules of the ordinance be made public.
