The Islamabad High Court (IHC) ruled on Wednesday in favour of private schools of the capital, allowing them to charge summer vacation fees from students. A single-bench of the IHC had earlier stopped schools from collecting fees from students during the summer break but the Supreme Court had dismissed the order and sent the matter back to the IHC. IHC Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb conducted the proceedings. In May this year, the IHC barred private schools in the federal capital from receiving fees for summer vacations. While hearing a petition, the court had ordered that amount already paid by parents shall be adjusted against fees for the period after vacations. During the hearing, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui had asked the counsels for Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (PIERA) what the authority was doing regarding the issue of fees being collected for summer vacations. To this, PIERA counsels Muhammad Faisal Khan and Rashid Hanif, said they could not do anything about restraining schools from collecting fees for summer vacations as the court had taken away the authority from PIERA. They said a petition against the withdrawal of authority from PIERA was under hearing. However, the high court issued restraint orders. Published in Daily Times, August 2nd 2018.