Supreme Court orders private schools to cut fee by 20 percent

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered private schools across the country to cut their monthly fee by 20 percent.

A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar heard a suo motu case against tuition fee hikes by private schools. The hearing was attended by private schools' lawyer, deputy auditor general and the chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

According to the interim order issued by the apex court, all private schools charging above Rs5,000 in monthly fee will have to cut the fee by 20 percent and return or adjust half of the fee charged over the summer holidays within two months.

The Supreme Court also barred private schools from increasing the annual fee by more than five percent. Any hike of more than five percent in the school fee would have to be approved by a regulatory board, the court order stated. In any case, any increase in the fee cannot be more than eight percent, it added. 

The interim order further stated that owners cannot shut down their schools.

As the hearing got under way, the chief justice remarked that the Supreme Court was not bound by decisions made by high courts. 

"The [Supreme] Court will make a decision on its own as to how much reduction [in fee] is appropriate," Justice Nisar observed. 

The bench also ordered FBR to probe income tax returns of the owners and directors of private schools.

Justice Nisar summoned the FBR chairman and ordered the bureau to check the tax records of private schools from the past seven years. 

The court adjourned the hearing till December 26.

On September 17, the Supreme Court had decided to club cases pertaining to private schools pending in high courts and the apex court.

According to the Eighteenth Amendment of the Constitution, all decisions pertaining to education fall under the domain of provincial governments, which are also responsible for the curriculum and all other matters pertaining to schools.

Earlier this year, a full bench of the Sindh High Court had barred private schools from increasing tuition fee by more than five per cent. The court had directed the schools to either refund the excess amount or adjust it in future fee within three months.