ISLAMABAD, Nov 8: A petition seeking standardization of fees of private educational institutions in the country has been fixed by the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi bench, for November 25 after deputy attorney-general Raja Mohammad Farooq asked for more time to submit a para-wise reply on the case.

Earlier during the previous hearing, Justice Ali Nawaz Chowhan of the LHC, Rawalpindi bench, had directed the education ministry to apprise the court of the federal government’s policy on bringing uniformity to the fees of the private educational institutions and actions taken against the private schools and colleges with respect to determination of standard fees. The Punjab government was also asked to produce the same information.

Filed by Sardar Mohammad Farooq Abbasi Advocate, the petition has sought court’s direction against the respondents to strictly implement the Punjab Private Educational Institutions Promotion and Regulation Ordinance 1984.

He has named the federation through secretary education, government of the Punjab through provincial education secretary, Rawalpindi district Nazim, EDO (education) Rawalpindi, various public schools and the public at large as respondents.

The petitioner has also urged the court to give directions for an inquiry to ascertain as to under what law different charges, tuition fee, registration fee and admission fee were being increased by these institutions in violation of laws and fundamental rights as enunciated in the 1973 Constitution.

The petitioner prayed the court to enforce relevant laws and compel all public/private educational institutions to provide standardized education to all citizens on the basis of equality instead of commercialism.

He maintained that the respondents should also not charge fees, etc., during holidays as it was not the responsibility of the children and their parents to meet their personal expenses.

He pleaded for an audit into the accounts of all the private educational institutions to ascertain the sources of their income — foreign as well as national — besides their expenditure, methods and heads of spending.

The petitioner alleged that a “mafia group” had made education a profit-making industry contrary to the provisions of the Constitution and all the private schools/educational institutions were left at the whims and wishes of the group.