Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar on Friday reiterated that the Supreme Court’s order for 20 percent reduction in monthly fee is applicable to all private schools across the country, with no exceptions.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar made the remark during hearing of a case. In its December 13 ruling, the apex court had ordered all private schools charging above Rs 5,000 monthly fee to cut the fee by 20 percent.
“The Supreme Court ruling applies to all [private] schools in the country charging above Rs5,000 [per month]; if there is any ambiguity then hand us the file, we will read it out [to everyone],” the top judge remarked.
“The administrations of [schools] began to shut down the schools when we [ordered them to reduce the fee],” the chief justice observed.
In its ruling last month, the Supreme Court also barred private schools from increasing the annual fee by more than five percent. Any hike of more than five percent in the school fee would have to be approved by a regulatory board, the court order stated. In any case, any increase in the fee cannot be more than eight percent, it added.
Published in Daily Times, January 5th 2019
