PHC disposes contempt petition against K-P education department

Petitioners' lawyer claim govt cancelled an advertisement for open posts even though people had qualified on merit

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has disposed of a contempt of court petition filed against the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa education department after it confirmed compliance with an earlier order and completed the appointment of 128 teachers in the district’s primary schools.

A division bench headed by Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth heard the case on Wednesday. Ijaz Sabi, the lawyer for petitioner Sajid Ali and several others, told the bench that the government advertised hundreds of posts in 2012 but actual appointments have been pending since then.

Sabi said the government later cancelled the advertisement and announced that it would hire people through the National Testing Service (NTS).



He added that based on the ad, the petitioners had already applied for those posts, had given the required tests and had qualified on merit, but the government cancelled the advertisement in violation of rules and regulations and did not appoint them.

Sabi argued that the ad cancellation was illegal as NTS policy cannot be applied over the advertisement and the PHC had already ordered the authority concerned to appoint applicants who had qualified on merit.

“The PHC order has fallen on deaf ears as the education department has not issued appointment notification to petitioners,” he said.

However, a representative of the department appeared before the court and said that 128 applicants have been appointed at primary schools as an appeal was filed at the apex court.

He also provided appointment notifications of some the applicants.

The bench told Sabi to confirm the appointments and inform the court if qualified candidates have not yet been appointed. Following this, the bench disposed of the contempt petition.