SHC orders private schools to restore old fee structure

SHC orders schools to return any additional fees collected after Sept 20, 2017

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has ordered private schools to restore the fee structure that was in place before September 20, 2017, and also to reimburse any additional amount they may have charged in the time since. Besides, the court also restrained the schools' managements from collecting three months' fees at a time.

The directive came during a contempt of court hearing against private school owners for extraordinary hike in school fees. A three-member bench, headed by Justice Aqeel Abbasi, heard the case, in which Private Schools Association Director Mansoob Siddiqui and other respondents appeared before the court.

The bench inquired as to what action had been taken on its previous orders, to which the respondents' lawyer said that the new fee challans were being issued in accordance with the court's orders. The court remarked, however, that it was inquiring about the procedure adopted to get the fee structure approved, adding that this was a contempt of court hearing and yet the respondents had failed to present the fee structure.

It seems there is a big problem with fee structures since 2005, the bench noted. The petitioner's lawyer concurred that the fee structure of private schools had many irregularities.

Meanwhile, the education department presented the approved fee structure to the court.

Beaconhouse School System and The City School also submitted replies to the contempt notice. Justice Abbasi noted, however, that the responses did not contain details of the last fee schedule issued and demanded the same to be submitted in court. The schools' lawyer argued that the challan was issued with a five per cent increase from the previous year's fee, adding that they had also submitted a request for the revision of the fee structure to the director of the private schools association.

To this, the court remarked that the schools had a very strong lobby and that they did not hold any regard for the association's director when it came to increasing fees. Justice Abbasi said that the schools' lawyer had failed to satisfy the court, adding that their response indicated that the schools had failed to comply with the court's orders.

To this, The City School's lawyers claimed that they had 56,000 students enrolled in their institutions. The seemed to irk the court even more, with Justice Abbasi warning to freeze the school's accounts if it failed to comply with its orders.

The bench later asked the parents present at the hearing if they had received the revised challans, to which the latter replied in the negative. To this, the court ordered the private schools to restore the fee structure in place on September 20, 2017, when the same court had given the original orders against fee hike. The schools' owners will now have to issue fee challans or adjustment challans on the basis of the 2017 fees structure.

Justice Abbasi warned that they could refer to even older orders but would not do so. However, the 2017 order must be complied with, he ordered.

The private schools now have until December 17, which is when the court will take up the case again, to comply with the court's orders and submit a compliance report.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2018.