The Lahore High Court has barred private medical colleges from charging students fees above the official cap, in a ruling reported on Saturday that brings relief to medical and dental students across Punjab. The court directed the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) to enforce its fee notifications strictly, ending years in which the limits were widely ignored.

Justice Khalid Ishaq delivered the judgment on a petition filed by a citizen, Shehryar, which challenged the heavy fees charged by the University of Lahore and other private medical institutions. The court held that annual fees must stay within the Rs1.8 million cap set in the PMDC's notifications, and warned institutions that violations would carry legal consequences.

The bench observed that education, particularly in professional fields such as medicine and dentistry, cannot be treated as a commercial enterprise. It noted that the PMDC had previously issued notifications regulating tuition fees, but that private institutions had continued to charge far more than the permitted limits because enforcement was lax. Compliance with the cap is now mandatory.

Geo News reported the decision in its 4pm headlines on Saturday, describing it as a court declaration against the heavy fees. The ruling is expected to matter most to students already enrolled in private colleges, whose families have faced demands well above the official limit, and to parents weighing admissions for the next academic session.

The judgment does not change the fees of public medical colleges, which are set separately. For private institutions, the message from the court is clear: the notified cap is the ceiling, and the regulator must now make it stick.

[Source: youtube.com](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EhoDX9wWQQ) | [Source: ilmkidunya.com](https://www.ilmkidunya.com/edunews/lhc-bars-university-of-lahore-from-charging-excessive-fees-major-relief-for-medical-students)