Civil courts lack jurisdiction in private school fee disputes: PHC

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has held that the Civil Court lacks jurisdiction to entertain civil suits about private school matters, and all complaints and grievances in this respect should exclusively be filed with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Private Schools Regulatory Authority (KPPSRA).

On 5th May, a single bench of the PHC Mingora Bench consisting of Justice Sabitullah Khan, while accepting the civil review, the Aga Khan Higher Secondary and Primary School made the ruling on jurisdiction.

The civil suit had been filed by the parent of a child studying in the Aga Khan School. He had alleged that the school had illegally enhanced the annual fee beyond the prescribed limits of a 10 per cent annual increase as set by the KP Private Schools Regulatory Authority Act, 2017 (KP-PSRA Act, 2017).

A declaration, injunction and adjustment of fee were accordingly sought in the civil suit. The Civil and District Court Lower Chitral had passed summary judgments in favour of the plaintiff and against the Aga Khan School, assailing which the Aga Khan School had preferred a civil review before the PHC.

Barrister Isfandyar Khan represented the Aga Khan School and stressed the misapplication of the law related to summary judgments, whereas Barrister Asad-ul-Mulk represented the KP-PSRA and took the stance that the impugned judgments were liable to be set aside on the issue of lack of jurisdiction, and the judgment of the Mingora Bench which was relied upon by the courts below had already been modified by the Supreme Court in the case of “District Education Officer v.The Langlands School”.

The respondent/plaintiff was represented by Advocate Alam Zeb. In its judgment, the PHC has held that “In view of the provision of Section 27 of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Private Schools Regulatory Authority Act, 2017 the civil court lacks the jurisdiction to adjudicate upon the controversy brought by the respondents through their suit relating to the fees, rather the authority shall have exclusive authority in respect of such matters”.

The judgments of the civil and district courts of Lower Chitral were set aside and the matter was referred to the director general of the KP-PSRA for deciding the same within two months.