LHC wants to know action taken against schools over excessive fees

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Thursday directed the Punjab government to furnish a report showing action it has thus far taken against private schools collecting excessive tuition fees in violation of the Supreme Court order.

Justice Shahid Waheed of the LHC was hearing a petition filed by a student, Ihtesham Sarwar who took a private school to the court over raising tuition fees excessively.

The judge directed the provincial authorities to submit details as to how many private schools had been fined for charging excessive fees.

Over the course of the hearing, he took exception to the government imposing a fine of Rs20,000 on a private school, saying it was fined a mere Rs20,000 for collecting double fees.

The petitioner complained that the Supreme Court had barred private schools from collecting excessive fees yet some of them have raised tuition fees in violation of its orders.

Earlier, on Sept 23, the LHC had directed the Punjab education secretary to appear in person to explain his position as to why have private schools hiked tuition fees and collected summer vacation fees in violation of the Supreme Court orders.

The petitioner stated that certain private schools had raised tuition fee excessively in utter disregard for the top court’s order.

Expressing displeasure over violation of the apex court’s order in regard to school fees, the bench summoned the provincial education secretary and the chief executive officer (CEO) of a private school to explain their position.