The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that annual increase in the tuition fee of private schools will be five per cent, upholding a Sindh High Court (SHC) order that was passed earlier.

The top court also withdrew an order from last year — passed by former chief justice Mian Saqib Nisar — for private schools to reduce their tuition fee by 20pc. At the same time, the court barred administrations of schools to retrieve the money as outstanding charges.

The judgement contained a dissenting note by Justice Faisal Arab who was part of the three-member bench hearing the case.

The verdict was reserved last week by the bench that was hearing a number of appeals against the cap on school fee introduced by the Sindh and Punjab governments, with not more than 5pc increase allowed for initial three years in the case of Sindh.