The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday prohibited private schools from increasing fee for their students as per their own criteria, and the court, instead, empowered Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (PEIRA) to formulate a comprehensive policy for determining fee increment at private schools.
Justice Aamir Farooq of IHC took up petitions filed by parents, some private schools associations and PEIRA against undisciplined fee hike by different private schools. And some parents also filed petitions against alleged illegal expulsion of their children from schools. The parents said that their children expelled as they raised voice against fee hikes on different forums.
Justice Farooq said that the PEIRA should decide this matter and submit report within two weeks. The court also directed for restoration of Dr Uzma Qazi son who was expelled by Roots Millennium School Sector E-11 Islamabad. Besides this, around 13 petitions which were filed against different private schools to get relief over this issue winded up by Justice Farooq.
The court asked PEIRA to get guidance from Supreme Court’s verdict issued in September last year.
A three-member bench of the SC, headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, Justice Faisal Arab and Justice Ijazul Ahsen struck down the fees excessively increased by private educational institutions since 2017 with the ruling that the increase was made in violation of the law.
“In view of our finding that schools have excessively increased fee since 2017 in violation of the law, all such increases are struck down,” said in the 69-page detailed judgment, authored by Justice Ijazul Ahsen. The court ruled that it will be deemed that there was no increase in fee since 2017 and fees were frozen at the rates prevailing in January, 2017.
The apex court found that since the beginning of June, 2017 a number of private educational institutions have been increasing their fee exorbitantly in violation of the relevant laws/rules.
The superior court recalled that it had, through an interim order dated December 30 2018 directed all educational institutions receiving fee in excess of Rs.5,000 per month to reduce their fee by 20 percent. We have reason to believe that the said order was duly complied with, says the detailed judgment.
The court also directed that the said amounts equivalent to 20% of fee (reduced under its orders) or any other amount shall not be recovered as arrears for any reason or under any circumstances.
According to the SC judgment “schools fee shall be recalculated using the fee prevailing in 2017 as the base fee in accordance with the provisions of Laws of Punjab and Sindh, respectively (adding annual increases permitted by the law/rules/regulations) till 2019 and onwards “.
The judgment further ruled that “it is unanimously held and declared that Section 7-A of the Punjab Private Educational Institutions (Promotion and Regulation) Ordinance, 1984, as amended by the Punjab Private Educational Institutions (Promotion and Regulation) (Amendment) Act, 2017 is intra vires the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 (“the Constitution”) and does not violate Articles 18, 23, 24 or 25-A”. The private schools were directed to collect the fee strictly in accordance with the procedure and timeframe provided by the law, the rules and regulations including, but not limited to the Punjab Private Educational Institutions (Promotion and Regulation) Ordinance, 1984, as amended by the Punjab Private Educational Institutions (Promotion and Regulation) (Amendment) Act, 2017 and the Rules of 2005.
