The candidates seeking judicial intervention to help their recruitment as the government school teachers almost nine years after they had qualified the recruitment test have lost their legal battle at the Sindh High Court.
The Hyderabad circuit bench of justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui and justice Irshad Ali Shah dismissed 12 petitions on Tuesday because they "suffered from laches".
In legal terminology laches means willful slackness or negligence which one takes in asserting his legal right.
Doctrine of Laches is placed on the principle that every person taking equitable relief must not sleep over his right, if he does so, delay will defeat him.
Interestingly, other benches of the SHC last month and earlier this month had ordered the provincial government to consider on merit appointment of the candidates who had qualified National Testing Service (NTS) conducted recruitment test in 2013.
"During scrutiny, if petitioners are found qualified for the posts they [had] applied for, they should be accommodated against the said posts," reads the March 3 order given by a different bench of SHC Hyderabad circuit bench.
The government was given two months for compliance and the scrutiny was supposed to be conducted by a grievance redressal committee formed on the court's order.
However, at variance with the previous orders, the sitting bench at SHC Hyderabad has based its order on the law of 'latches' which refers to bringing a matter under litigation after lapse of a considerable period of time which amounts to inordinate delay.
Read More: School teachers’ recruitment tests transparent: Shah
"None of the benches whose orders have been cited have addressed this point, therefore, we are of the view that since the point of latches has not been decided conclusively, those orders will not bind his bench to follow [a] similar views," reads the order given by the incumbent bench. "There is no such order of equal bench of this court which has addressed the issue of laches and then ordered for appearance before the redressal committee."
The judges observed that the grievances of the petitioners arose in 2013 when the jobs were advertised and subsequently the testing process was carried out.
"They [petitioners] could have then initiated legal proceedings for the denied relief but they failed." The court noted that the petitions have been moved after nine years.
The bench further observed that the petitioners might have secured highest marks in the recruitment test but that fact alone cannot overcome the excessive delay in bringing the matter for legal remedy before the court.
"Since the question of latches was never discussed in detail in any of the cited orders, we are of the view that these petitions suffer from latches and, hence, the same are accordingly dismissed.
It is unclear how the Sindh government is going to implement separate court orders concerning the same appointments.
The earlier orders had ordered the provincial government to appoint the candidates after scrutiny but the new order has dismissed identical petitions. There are reportedly hundreds of candidates who had qualified the test but were denied the jobs.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 31st, 2022.
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