BIU ordered to pay NCHE K19.8m in legal costs

Blantyre International University (BIU) has suffered another legal setback after the High Court ordered it to pay K19.805 million in legal costs to the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE).

This follows the Court’s dismissal of BIU’s 2022 lawsuit in which the university was seeking damages from NCHE over its de-accreditation.

In an Order on Assessment of Costs dated 26 August 2026, Assistant Registrar Benjamin Chulu ruled that BIU must pay the amount within 14 days.

The costs arise from a case BIU filed in 2022 claiming damages for loss of business, compensation for inconvenience, and litigation expenses after NCHE de-accredited the institution.

The trial ended on 24 March 2025 and on 5 September 2025 the Court dismissed BIU’s claim and awarded costs to NCHE.NCHE, represented by the Attorney General’s Chambers, had filed a Bill of Costs of K24.125 million but BIU objected, calling the legal fees excessive.

After reviewing the claims, the Court slashed several items including reducing time for taking instructions from 12 to 8 hours, preparing documents from 20 to 10 hours, perusing documents from 15 to 8 hours, and researching authorities from 100 to 60 hours and disbursements were cut from K4 million to K3 million.

The Court eventually assessed party-and-party costs at K17 million plus K2.805 million VAT, totaling K19.805 million.