LAHORE (The Thursday Times) — Private medical and dental colleges cannot set their own fees and must hand back what they overcharged, the Lahore High Court has ruled, upholding the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council’s power to cap tuition.
In a detailed judgment, Justice Khalid Ishaq dismissed three petitions filed by private colleges against the council’s fee regulations and allowed 12 petitions filed by students and their parents asking for the limits to be enforced.
The court said private colleges had no unrestricted right to decide their own fees, and that medical education could not be run as a purely commercial business because it was tied to public health.
What two colleges owe each student
The judgment cites the minutes of the council’s Fee Justification Committee. They record that University Medical and Dental College, Faisalabad, was liable to refund Rs841,317 per student for amounts collected above the prescribed fee, and FMH College of Medicine and Dentistry, Lahore, Rs741,802 per student.
The court noted that the Faisalabad college reported an income of Rs5.099 billion for 2025 and a profit of Rs378.659 million, and that FMH College reported an annual income of Rs1.867 billion and a profit of Rs111.941 million.
How the cap works
The council first fixed the annual MBBS and BDS tuition fee at Rs1.8 million in April 2025, then capped it at Rs1.89 million for the 2025-26 session. In March 2026 it set revised ceilings for different categories of colleges, with higher limits allowed only for institutions that justified them with audited accounts.
The court said the system was not arbitrary, because colleges could apply for higher fees by proving genuine costs, but it told the regulator to take legitimate costs into account when setting limits.
Protection for students who complain
The court also took note of complaints that some students had been victimised for pressing their rights. It directed the colleges not to treat enrolled students unfairly, and said any student facing such treatment could approach the court for contempt proceedings.
The council has repeatedly advised students and parents not to pay more than the approved fee. At a National Assembly health committee meeting this week, members said some students had been asked for an extra Rs600,000 and warned they would be kept out of classes if they did not pay. The committee told the council to step up inspections and penalise colleges charging unauthorised fees.
