SHC orders prompt timescale promotions for lecturers

Dismisses contempt of court plea over MBBS entry tests

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court directed the Sindh government to give timescale promotions to 10,000 lecturers within 10 days.

A bench, headed by Muhammad Ali Mazhar, issued the order while hearing a plea seeking promotions for 10,000 lecturers on the basis of timescale.

At the hearing, the assistant advocate-general told the court that a committee had been working on the matter and a summary for the promotions had been sent for approval.

He requested for more time from the court, saying that the committee’s meeting was scheduled on December 4.

At this, Justice Mazhar remarked that the matter should not be complicated on account of the committee.

“The case has been pending for years… some people have been waiting for promotions for the past 30 years. Don’t you care?” the judge rebuked the assistant advocate-general.

Besides, the petitioner’s counsel claimed that the provincial authorities had been giving false statements in the court.

“No teacher has been promoted for the past 31 years and the matter was further complicated following the committee,” he maintained.

Adjourning the hearing till December 9, the court directed relevant authorities to give timescale promotions to the lecturers within 10 days.

Plea dismissed

Meanwhile, the court dismissed a contempt of court plea pertaining to the conflict between the Sindh and federal government over Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) admissions.

The contempt of court plea, over noncompliance with the court order, was moved by Muhammad Jibran Nasir, who is the counsel for students opposing the federal and Sindh government holding MBBS entry tests separately.

Nasir maintained in the court that the new test date was announced without the relevant authorities forming an academic board.

“[But] an academic board has been formed and it has approved the syllabus,” the lawyer representing the Pakistan Medical Commission argued.

“How is it a contempt of the court when the board has reexamined the syllabus?” the court questioned.

Stating that the court order had been implemented, the SHC dismissed the contempt of court plea.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2020.