The Supreme Court on Wednesday declared that its order for reduction of fees by 20 percent ceased to be effective, subject to recalculation of fee by using the fee prevailing in 2017 as the base fee. The schools shall not recover any arrears on account of the reduction in fee by reason of the interim order of this Court dated 13.12.2018 till the date of this judgment.
A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, on May 9 had reserved the judgment. Former CJP Saqib Nisar on December 13, 2018 had ordered that all private schools who are charging more than Rs5000 as monthly fee to reduce 20% of the existing fee and return or adjust summer vacations fees. It was modified on January 16, 2019 with the direction that the private schools to reduce fee by 20% and this amount shall be made on amounts in excess of Rs5000/-, which essentially means that notwithstanding the total amount of fee, the first Rs5000/- is exempt from reduction of 20% and such reduction would only be applicable to amounts in excess of Rs5000/- per month.
The latest order said that in Punjab recalculation of fee will be by using the fee prevailing in 2017 as the base fee in accordance with the provision(s) of the Punjab Private Educational Institutions (Promotion and Regulation) (Amendment) Act, 2017 and onwards. For the Province of Sindh, fees may be recalculated using the fee prevailing on 29.06.2017 as the base fee and onwards, in accordance with the Rules of 2005.
The apex court further directed that all schools shall collect the fee, strictly in accordance with the procedure and timeframe provided by the law, the rules and regulations including, but not limited to the Punjab Private Educational Institutions (Promotion and Regulation) Ordinance, 1984, as amended by the Punjab Private Educational Institutions (Promotion and Regulation) (Amendment) Act, 2017 and the Rules of 2005.
The court unanimously held and declared that Section 7-A of the Punjab Private Educational Institutions (Promotion and Regulation) Ordinance, 1984, as amended by the Punjab Private Educational Institutions (Promotion and Regulation) (Amendment) Act, 2017 is intra vires the Constitution and does not violate Articles 18, 23, 24 or 25-A thereof.
It also unanimously held and declared that Rule 10 of the Rules of 2005 is intra vires the statute, i.e. Sindh Private Education Institutions (Regulation and Control) Ordinance, 2001, and the Constitution. With a majority of two against one the court said that it is not persuaded to interfere with Rule 7(3) of the Rules of 2005.
Justice Arab in a separate note agreed on the validity of Section 7A of Punjab Private Educational Institutions (Promotion and Regulation) Ordinance, 1984, which allows 8% increase in tuition fee in an academic year. He, however, differed on the reasonableness of Rule 7(3) of Sindh Private Educational Institutions (Regulations and Control) Rules, 2005.
Under Rule 7 (2) and (3) of Sindh Private Educational Institutions (Regulations and Control) Rules, 2005 fee in an academic year can be increased only up to 5% subject to establishing proper justification before the Registering Authority. Hence while providing room for periodical increases, a cap of 5% was imposed, which was given primacy over any reason that may justify raise in the tuition fees beyond such limit, noted Faisal Arab.
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