The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has dismissed a petition challenging a 100 per cent increase in annual fees for medical colleges, ruling that the court could not intervene in university policy matters unless there was abuse of authority or violation of statutes.
A two-judge bench comprising Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Dr Khurshid Iqbal heard the petition filed by 119 students including Muhammad Zulqarnain.
The petitioners, students of Khyber Medical University and affiliated medical and dental colleges, claimed that the university's decision to increase fees by more than 100 per cent was unfair and violated the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Universities Act 2012.
The petitioners' lawyer contended that the government's and university administration's decision was a violation of Section 28 of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Universities Act 2012. He said that only the syndicate of a public sector university could make decisions about increases in fees and that the increases could not be more than ten per cent.
On the other hand, the university's lawyer informed the court that the provincial government and Khyber Medical University formulated the admissions policy as well as the annual fees for each academic session, the students had accepted the fee structure at the time of their admission, and their enrolment in medical colleges was based on college policies and prospectuses.
The court was told that the fee increase was discussed in the Khyber Medical University's Finance and Training Committee meeting in 2024 after which the fees had been raised from Rs143,000 to Rs450,000. These recommendations had been presented in the 44th meeting of the University Syndicate and later notified in the college admission policy.
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