Sindh High Court fines CDGK Rs5,000

Teachers claim they were offered posts but denied later.

KARACHI: Angered by the absence of the Executive District Officer (EDO) for Education, a division bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC) fined the city government Rs5,000 and ordered it to take it from the EDO.

The bench was hearing a constitutional petition filed by Meharunnisa and Mushtaq Ahmed, who after a written exam and interview, etc, were offered the posts of primary school teacher but were subsequently denied an appointment or posting later in 2007.

The petitioner maintained that their offer letters were cancelled on the pretext of the withdrawal of a scheme by foreign donors but successively new advertisements were made for the same jobs.

On Thursday, the EDO for Education was ordered to appear personally but when the case was called, a counsel for the CDGK requested the court to keep it aside and that the EDO was on his way to court. When the case was called again, in the second half, the CDGK’s counsel said that he had contacted the officer who has requested an adjournment.

The bench comprising Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Syed Zakir Hussain took strong exception to this and fined the CDGK.

In its order, the court said that it has been “accommodating” public functionaries but that these concessions were being “misused” in a “disrespectful manner”. The court adjourned till a later date.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th,  2011.