Delhi govt to table bill to regulate private school fee hikes in monsoon session: CM Rekha Gupta

The Delhi government will introduce a bill to regulate fee hikes by private schools in the upcoming Monsoon Session, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said on Saturday.

According to the Cabinet-approved ordinance, passed on April 29, the bill imposes strict penalties on schools that hike fees arbitrarily. For a first offence, schools will face fines ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, with repeat violations attracting penalties between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 10 lakh. If the school fails to refund within the specified time, the fine doubles after 20 days, triples after 40 days, and continues to increase with every 20-day delay. Repeated violations may lead to a ban on holding official positions in the school management and loss of the right to propose future fee revisions.

Addressing the media, Gupta said, “Delhi govt will table the education bill to regulate fee hike by private schools, in the Monsoon session of Assembly beginning from August 4.”

Highlighting other policy steps, she announced that the Delhi Legislative Assembly will now operate as a paperless e-Vidhan Sabha.

“It is a matter of happiness that the Delhi Legislative Assembly will now be paperless. We have also developed the assembly as a model Legislative Assembly, as it is completely dependent on solar power now,” she said.

The chief minister added that efforts are also underway to make the Delhi Secretariat paperless, as part of the government’s broader digital and sustainable governance agenda.

“We are taking policy decisions to make Delhi developed,” she said.

The Monsoon Session will be the third session of the Delhi Assembly under the Rekha Gupta-led government.

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Illegal construction surges on Yamuna floodplains despite court orders

Despite multiple court orders banning any form of construction or dumping, illegal activities continue unabated across the Yamuna floodplains in Delhi. Permanent structures are being erected, demolition and construction waste is being dumped indiscriminately, and heaps of silt and garbage are accumulating — all under the gaze of an administration that environmentalists describe as wilfully apathetic.

The South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), a water advocacy group and think tank, has written to Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena, and other concerned officials, seeking immediate intervention to stop these activities, which it says pose a serious ecological threat.