SC terms teachers’ appointments by Sindh govt illegal

AG admits that the hiring process was flawed

KARACHI: The Supreme Court (SC) rejected on Wednesday the petition moved by teachers and termed their appointments in over 70 departments, including physical training, as illegal. A two-member bench comprising Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Munib Akhtar heard the petition at SC's Karachi registry.

Justice Ahmed remarked that the entire process of the appointments of teachers was illegal. The counsel for the teachers, Mujeeb Pirzada, maintained that the process of appointments took place across Sindh. The court remarked that when such matters come up, they would be examined in accordance with the law.

Additional Advocate-General Ghulam Sarwar Khan said that the selection committee appointed teachers without conducting any interviews or tests. The entire appointment process was based on ill-intentions. He maintained that the services tribunal had already declared the teachers' appointments as illegal. The teachers were appointed on forged documents, he said. The Sindh chief minister has also withdrawn the notification relating to the appointments of the teachers, he added.



Pirzada maintained that the appointments made in 2011-12 were in accordance with the law and the tribunal termed them illegal without reviewing the educational credentials.

Illegal occupation

The same bench of the SC annulled on Wednesday the decision of Sindh High Court (SHC) pertaining to occupancy of a home given to a differently-abled man by the Zakat Committee for the past 22 years.

Sufi Arshad informed the court that the Zakat Committee had given him the home in Junejo Town in 1996.

Former Zakat Committee chairperson said that the committee had planned for 406 homes out of which 136 were built. In order to avoid occupancy by political figures, the poor were made to occupy the land in haste.

Justice Akhtar remarked that it had been proved in the sub-ordinate court that the house was given to the petitioner and SHC's order to determine the licence holder was beyond understanding.

The court directed the SHC to revisit the case and fix the case hearing for April 23. Sufi Arshad informed the media that a leader of a political group had occupied his house. "The occupant was a coordinator of a political leader," he said. "The people of the political group abducted me and took me to the sector office where they beat me up and broke my legs," he claimed adding that a leader of the group had a significant role in the occupation of his house.

Corruption reference

SC issued directives on Wednesday for the formation of a three-member bench to hear the bail pleas of suspects booked in a case of millions of rupees corruption and illegal appointments in the Fishermen Cooperative Society (FCS). The directives came on the request of counsel for defence, Rasheed A Rizvi. The same bench heard the case against former FCS chairperson Nisar Morai and others.

National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) prosecutor maintained that strong evidence was available against the suspects who have been involved in financial embezzlement and corruption. A reference against the suspects is under trial in the NAB court, he said. Other accused in the case include Abu Bakr Mariwala, Gul Munir Sheikh and Abdul Saeed Khan.

Morai's counsel, Rizvi maintained that NAB cases were usually heard in SC by a three-member bench. He requested the court to form one. The court directed the formation of a three-member bench and adjourned the hearing.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 28^th, 2019.