Oppn. parties criticise Delhi govt.’s ‘undemocratic’ ordinance on fee hikes 

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.

When reached for comment, the Delhi government did not respond.

Mr. Bharadwaj alleged that the government has been working “in the interest of private schools, rather than those of the parents”.

He added, “The Cabinet passed the ordinance without consulting anyone. No parent was called for suggestions, no parents’ body was involved, and no attempt was made to explain it. The draft wasn’t made public, wasn’t uploaded online, and no citizen feedback was sought.”

Devender Yadav, the Delhi Congress chief, alleged that the BJP Cabinet’s decision to approve the ordinance without consulting stakeholders is “undemocratic”, and betrays the manner in which the government has “neglected” the voice of lakhs of students and their parents, who have been protesting against the arbitrary fee hike by private schools for months.