Delhi: Private schools takeover threat

Nearly a decade old tussle over refund of ‘excess fees’ (amounting to over Rs.300 crore) collected by 544 private schools in Delhi in the wake of the 5th and 6th Pay Commission awards entered a decisive phase on August 16, with the Delhi (state) government submitting a list of 449 ‘defaulting’ private schools against whom it has initiated takeover/nationalisation proceedings.  This standoff between the AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) government, which swept the state legislative election in 2015, and Delhi’s private schools has its origins in the appointment of the Justice Anil Dev Singh committee in 2011 to investigate schools which had raised tuition fees on the plea that they were compelled to do so because following the 5th (1997) and 6th Pay Commission (2007) awards, their expenditure had risen commensurately. Under a directive issued by the government in 1997, private schools in Delhi state are obligated to pay their teachers the same pay scales as teachers in government schools.  But well before the Anil Dev Singh committee was appointed, writ petitions were filed by the Delhi Abhibhavak Mahasangh, Social Jurist and Faith Academy Parents Association in the Delhi high court challenging the increase in the tuition fees of independent private schools in Delhi to meet 5th Pay Commission obligations. Following this, the then Congress government of the state issued an order under which if schools’ reserves were insufficient, tuition fees could be increased to the extent required after consultation with their PTAs (parent teacher associations).  Even as these petitions were pending, private schools again hiked fees to meet 6th Pay Commission teachers’ pay obligations. Following renewed protests by parents’ representative organisations, in 2008 the state government constituted a committee under retired IAS officer S.L. Bansal to examine the implications of the 6th Pay Commission for private schools. The Bansal committee submitted its report in 2009 and in accordance with its recommendations, the government allowed unaided recognised private schools of Delhi to hike their tuition and development fees with retrospective effect, from 2006, only if existing reserves weren’t sufficient to meet the teachers’ pay liabilities. For this, schools were grouped in five categories on fee differentials and an average fee hike of 20 percent was permitted. Meanwhile, the Delhi Abhibhavak Mahasangh filed a second writ petition questioning the validity of the state government’s order of 2009 based on the Bansal Committee’s recommendations and inter alia demanded that the “excess fees” paid in the period 1997-2009 be refunded to parents. The petitioners also argued that the state government should ensure government audit of schools accounts as per s.18 (6) of the Delhi School Education Act (Rule 170), on regular basis. This argument was accepted by the court which held that private schools are obliged to submit their accounts for government audit and also submit a statement of fees in advance before the commencement of every academic year for approval by the ministry of education. More importantly, it held that the director of education of the state government has the authority to regulate…