SHC suspends directives to schools for 20pc fee concession

The Sindh High Court on Thursday suspended the directives issued by the directorate of private institutions of the provincial education department to private educational institutions with regard to a mandatory concession of 20 per cent in tuition fees of April and May in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

The interim order came on a petition of TYMS education and other private education institutions, which assailed the directives issued by the director general of the directorate of inspection/registration of private institutions of the Sindh school education and literacy department telling the private schools and educational institutions to given a 20 per cent mandatory concession in the tuition fees for April and May 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown in the province.

The petitioner’s counsel, Arshad Tayebaly and Omer Memon, submitted that the respondent had no authority to issue such impugned directions as it was not mentioned by the respondent as to whether the decision was taken by the competent authority or the provincial cabinet.

They argued that the impugned directions were issued without hearing any private institutions and against the principle of natural justice. They said the private institutions had been compelled to reduce the tuition fees for April and May 2020 by 20 per cent and refund the outstanding amounts which they had already received from the parents, but on other hand they had been directed to pay full salaries to the teaching and non-teaching staff of the institutions for these months.

They said that the decision was unlawful and liable to be struck down. A division bench headed by Justice Nadeem Akhtar, after the preliminary hearing of the petition, issued notices to the advocate general and the directorate of private schools education for April 22, and in the meantime suspended the impugned directives for a concession of 20 per cent in the tuition fees.