SHC inquires about mechanism of fee hike by private schools

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday asked private schools’ to furnish details regarding mechanism and record of fee hike in the recent past, ARY News reported.

The court said it wanted to know the mechanism and process that allows increase in fee hike at private schools.

“Who has the authority to issue fee chalan and approve fee structure,” the SHC bench asked the lawyer of private schools.

He responded that the last fee structure was approved in 2016. The judge asked about the details of the fee hike approval.

‘We believe that the contempt of court notice [to private schools] wasn’t taken seriously,’ remarked the judge.

In the last hearing on Nov 19, the SHC had sought record from the director general of private schools regarding fee hike during last 13 years.

The SHC bench, comprising Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Ashraf Jehan, was hearing the contempt of court proceedings against private schools over non-compliance of the court orders.

During the hearing on Nov 12, the court had expressed displeasure and issued contempt notices to the four schools and DG private schools for non compliance with the court orders. Replying to a question, the DG private schools had claimed before the court that the record of schools’ fee structure lost in rains.