PESHAWAR, Oct 2: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday ordered the provincial government to fully implement an order of the court regarding fee concession to siblings studying in the same school and to take action against the private institutions not extending that concession to the students.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Shahjehan Khan Akhundzada directed an additional advocate general, Naveed Akhter, to produce minutes of the cabinet meeting held a day earlier in which approval was given to a proposed law for setting up a regulatory authority to register, regulate and look after the affairs of private educational institutions.

The bench also directed the Peshawar Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) to set up a counter so as to start a one-window operation for creating awareness among the parents about the court’s decision and to address their grievances against any of the educational institution.

The bench was hearing a writ petition and a contempt of court petition filed against a private institution, The Educator School System, by Malik Abdul Waheed, father of two students. He said that the school had not been implementing the court’s order and instead charging exorbitant fee from his two sons. The court adjourned the case and next date of hearing would be fixed later on.

The high court had dismissed Feb 1, 2011 some writ petitions filed by leading private schools and declared as legal a notification issued by education department, which made it binding on them to extend fee concession to siblings studying in same school.

The court had also declared the Education Code, 1935, under which the said notification was issued by the government to schools, a valid legal instrument.

Advocate Ghulam Mohiuddin Malik appeared for the petitioner on Tuesday and contended that two sons of the petitioner, Malik Fahad and Malik Huzaifa, were studying at the said private school. He stated that in accordance with the order of the high court the petitioner requested the school management to extend fee concession to one of his sons.

He stated that the management extended concession to one of his sons for three months but later on arbitrarily enhanced their tuition fees, while the fee of rest of the students were not increased, so as to fraudulently withdraw the concession extended by it.

Advocate Shakeela Khan appeared for the Peshawar Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, whereas a section officer (litigation), Hidayatullah Khan, represented the elementary and secondary education department.

The bench inquired from them as to why the court’s order had not been so far implemented despite lapse of over one-and-a half year.

Ms Khan stated whenever any complaint was filed by the parents against any of the schools the board had taken notice of it. She added that recently BISE had suspended licences of some branches of Beaconhouse School System and City School System.

Hidayatullah said that the department had received affidavits from 58 private institutions that stated on oath that they had been implementing the court’s order and extending fee concession to students.

The bench observed that several schools had still not been implementing the order.

The PHC chief justice observed that there was a news item in newspapers that the provincial cabinet had given approval for a draft law, which would be tabled before the provincial assembly for legislation regarding regulating and registration of the private educational institutions.

He directed the AAG to produce minutes of the meeting so that the court could examine which law the government intended to enact.