SHC issues notices to DMC chairpersons on contempt petition

Six blind teachers approached the court seeking payment of pending salaries

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) issued on Thursday notices to chairpersons of two district municipal corporations (DMC) - Central and West - on a contempt application filed by blind teachers against them for not releasing their salaries, despite the court's orders.

The SHC bench, headed by Justice Irfan Saadat Khan, was hearing a petition filed by six blind teachers - Sana Daniyal, Shahnaz Begum, Muhammad Nawaz, Muhammad Suleman, Peer Hussain and Naseer Ahmed - who had approached the court seeking payment of their pending salaries.

The bench also expressed displeasure when it was informed that one female teacher had died without receiving her pending salary.



The applicants requested the court to initiate contempt proceedings against the concerned authorities for not releasing their pending salaries despite the SHC's directives. The court issued notices to the DMC Central and West chairpersons, directing them to submit their replies by July 12.

The petitioners were appointed on contract in the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation's (KMC) education department on the differently-abled persons' quota and were working as teachers. The petitioners told the court that their contracts had expired in 2016 and they had filed applications for the renewal of their contracts while continuing to perform their duties.

The KMC extended our contracts four months after the contracts' expiry but the department did not release our salaries, the disabled teachers claimed. The blind teachers also submitted that they had been working with dedication, therefore, it was their right to be regularised.



Nominating the chief secretary, KMC administrator, senior director of accounts and education director as respondents, the petitioners requested the court to direct them to release their salaries and regularise them.

Earlier, the SHC had ordered the regularisation of the KMC's differently-abled contract employees, to which the local government secretary had assured the court that all such employees would be regularised. However, the court's directives have not been complied with.