‘SC order on tuition fee inapplicable to Islamabad schools’

IHC tells PEIRA to regulate school fees in capital

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Saturday directed the Private Education Institutions Regulatory Authority (PEIRA) to exercise its powers for regulating the school fees for the educational institutions located in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) as it disposed of all petitions pertaining revision of school fees.

The single-member bench of IHC comprising Justice Aamer Farooq issuing the detailed verdict nullified PEIRA’s notification issued to private educational institutions in light of Supreme Court orders.

The apex court’s orders were issued on the petitions pertaining Sindh and Punjab, not Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Justice Farooq said. However, the court authorised the PEIRA to issue a new notification in this regard after the issuance of IHC’s order.

The order stated that the petitioner, Islamabad Private Schools Association (PSA), contended that the earlier judgment of the SC regarding fee regulation issued was not applicable to ICT schools but only for Punjab and Sindh.

The petitioner had contended that if PEIRA was to regulate fees, it formed the basis of challenging powers of the Islamabad Capital Territory Private Educational Institutions (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2013. The court said that in an earlier order issued in May 2016 by IHC, it declared various provisions of the related Act as intra vires including provisions relating regulation of fee. It further read that the federal government framed working rules of PEIRA named as Private Educational Institutions (Registration and Fee Determination) Rules 2016. The vires of the rules were challenged before IHC and the court struck down a number of rules on the basis that they were unreasonable and ultra vires.

The struck down rules also included the provision relating determination and enhancement of fee therefore PEIRA was not an authorised body to revise school fees. Later, an appeal was filed against the decision which was still pending before IHC divisional bench, the verdict said.

“It was conceded that though under the Act, PEIRA has the power to regulate fee, but it is contended that judgment of the SC is not applicable in ICT, hence cannot form the basis for regulation of fee.”, the order stated.

The order further stated that SC had maintained in an order issued May 2019 that all interim orders regarding fee regulation stood vacated and the files of the appeals pending before the IHC divisional bench were also summoned. However, no order was issued by the SC and the matter was now being heard by the IHC division bench.

The parents had pleaded before the court to direct PEIRA to take needful measures and further instruct schools to recalculate the fee in accordance with the directions and guidelines provided in the SC orders.

The counsel of PEIRA contended that comprehensive guidelines were provided in the SC order that could form the basis for the authority for fee recalculation of the private educational institutions. The lawyer had asserted that there was no cavil with the proposition that PEIRA did not have the authority to control the private institutions regarding the fixation of fee and its enhancement.

The court stated that the failure on the part of the federal government to provide quality education has led to the immense growth of institutions in the private sector, which need regulation especially in the fixation of fees. The judgment said that “despite the absence of rules, PIERA is still the authority to regulate fee and enhancement cannot be left unregulated especially in times of escalatory trend in prices of all items and contraction of the economy resulting in limited resources for the parents to educate their children.”

It further added: “Balance is to be maintained by PEIRA keeping in mind the quality of education and other facilities being offered by the school with a reasonable return over the referred expenses.”

The court declared the earlier notices issued by the PEIRA as ‘without lawful authority’ and asked it to issue fresh notices for the regulation of fee pursuant to powers under the PEIRA Act.

The court disposed of the petitions filed by PSA and parents along with the contempt petitions by terming them infructuous. 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 8^th, 2020.