The Central Board of Secondary Education increased the examination fee for Classes 10 and 12 on a “no profit, no loss” principle, Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ told Parliament on Thursday.

He, however, added that it was on the state governments to decide implementing the revised fees, reported NDTV. “Education being a subject in the concurrent list of the Constitution and a substantial majority of schools are under the jurisdiction of the state governments, it is for the respective state government to take a decision with regard to increase of examination fee for students in their schools,” the minister said in his reply to a question by MP Lal Sinh Vadodia in the Rajya Sabha.

The board had revised the fee structure in August. CBSE officials had said a deficit of over Rs 200 crore in conducting the examinations for Class 10 and Class 12 had forced the board to revise the fees. They said the Centre’s decision to shift competitive examinations such as the all-India entrance tests for medical and engineering courses away from CBSE to the National Testing Agency also led to loss of major source of their revenue.

The fees for general category students for Classes 10 and 12 were doubled from Rs 750 to Rs 1,500 for five subjects. Candidates from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes would pay Rs 1,200 for five subjects. They were earlier paying Rs 375.

Under a “special arrangement” in Delhi, SC/ST students earlier used to pay Rs 50 as examination fee, while the remaining amount was borne by the Delhi government. However, days after the CBSE revised the fees, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia announced that students of government and government-aided schools in the National Capital Territory will not have to pay any fee for Class 10 and Class 12 exams to the Central Board of Secondary Education.