LHC strikes down 8pc increase in fee of private schools

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday struck down eight per cent increase in fee made by private schools from January 2019 being in violation of Supreme Court’s June 12, 2019 judgment, however, they are allowed five per cent annual increase in July 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Justice Sethi partly declared District Regulator Authority (DRA) order illegal being not in conformity with judgment of the apex court and modified in term of said clarification.The private schools as well as parents/students are obliged to abide by the direction of the apex court and shall facilitate the process of implementation of the decision in letter and spirit.

The DRA would also set up complaint cells to deal with future grievances of the parties, the court ruled while disposing of several petition of students, parents and private schools administration.

The parents had challenged the decision of private schools receiving excessive fees, pleading that private educational institutions are violating the Supreme Court (SC) orders by taking excessive fees.The petitioners ‘counsel Azhar Siddique argued that the parents and students were facing difficulties due to the exorbitant fees being taken by private schools.

He prayed to the court to restrain private educational institutions from collecting exorbitant fees and immediately declare the decision as illegal.

Private schools administration had also approached LHC, complaining that DRA was wrongly interpreting SC’s order and they were entitled to 8 per cent increases three times from July 2017 to 2019.