Clearing its stance on 'taking over' 449 private schools, which were served show cause notices for charging extra fee from students, the Delhi government on Friday said that the step will be taken as the 'last resort', only if they fail to return the amount.

"Private schools are the integral part of our education system. The Delhi government has no intention to interfere in their functioning but we, as a responsible government, will surely ensure discipline in these schools," Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said.

The 449 schools, including some of the top private schools, were identified by a committee appointed by the Delhi High Court and headed by Justice Anil Dev Singh for 'overcharging' parents on the pretext of implementing the sixth pay commission after some parents had approached the court in 2009. The committee had recommended that the hiked fee be refunded to parents along with a 9 per cent interest.

"Some of these schools are doing good work. But if they don't implement the recommendations of the Justice Anil Dev's committee and return the fees, then we will take them over as a last resort," Kejriwal said.

The schools have been served with show cause notices with a deadline to respond within two weeks on why they should not be taken over by the government. "I hope we don't have to take over. The managements of these schools should immediately implement the Justice Anil Dev Singh's recommendation," he said.

The private schools, on the other hand, said that there are several 'lapses' in the calculation of 'extra' money by the committee. "Several schools have grievances with the committees recommendation. We have received complaints from 25-30 schools saying the calculations done by justice Dev committee are incorrect," said SK Bhattacharya, president of Action Committee Unaided Recognised Private School.

According to officials at Bal Bharti School, Rohini, they have been asked to return 60 lakh rupees, which is around Rs 40 lakh more than the actual amount. "Schools should refund the extra money, but the Delhi government and the court should consider their grievances," Bhattacharya said.

On Wednesday, the Delhi government had apprised the Delhi HC that out of the 544 schools, identified by Justice Anil Dev committee to refund the excess fees, these 449 schools had not given money back to the parents.

According to Delhi government the schools have to have to refund over Rs 300 crore to the parents.