The Delhi High Court on Monday asked the Delhi government to maintain status quo and not take any action against private schools that have not yet formed fee monitoring committees until February 20.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia observed that no party would suffer any prejudice if the government refrains from insisting on the constitution of school-level fee regulation committees (SLFRCs) until the next hearing.

The court is scheduled to hear applications filed by private schools seeking a stay on the government’s February 1 notification on that date.

As per the notification, schools were required to constitute the SLFRCs by February 10. However, the Bench directed that until the stay applications are decided, schools that have not formed the committees should not be compelled to do so. The court also issued notices on the petitions challenging the notification, along with the stay pleas.

The matter arises from a batch of petitions filed by private schools challenging the February 1 notification titled Delhi School Education (Removal of Difficulties) Order, 2026. Published in the gazette, the order mandates that schools constitute SLFRCs within ten days of its publication and submit details of proposed fees for the next three academic years, starting from 2026–27, within 14 days.

The schools have argued that the order, which claims to “remove difficulties,” effectively overrides the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Act, 2025. According to them, while the parent Act provides that SLFRCs are to be constituted by July 15, the impugned order advances the deadline to February 10.

Earlier, the schools had approached the High Court challenging a December 24, 2025 notification that directed them to constitute SLFRCs by January 10, 2026, and sought to apply the fee regulation law to the 2025–26 academic session. On January 9, 2026, the High Court issued notice and extended the deadline for constituting the committees to January 20.

Subsequently, the government withdrew the December 2025 notification and issued the fresh February 1 order. When the schools challenged the High Court’s January 9 order before the Supreme Court, the government stated that the new fee law would not apply to the 2025–26 academic year. Recording this submission, the apex court disposed of the matter, while leaving it open for the High Court to consider the challenge to the February 1 notification.

Following this, the schools again approached the Delhi High Court, which heard the matter on Monday and passed the interim directions