50 college lecturers ‘buy postings’

HED seeks inquiry against three employees

LAHORE:

The Punjab Higher Education Department (HED) has unearthed a scandal involving its employees receiving millions of rupees in bribe for transferring college teachers.

In initial findings, around 50 college teachers who had been given transfer orders for their favourite places after paying bribe to three employees have been identified.

The department issued a list of the teachers involved in the scam and written a letter to the Punjab anti-corruption wing to initiate legal action against the employees responsible.

According to sources, HED Section Officers Muddasir Hussain and Khurram Warraich along with former SO Faiza Anwar are suspected of issuing illegal transfer orders.

The teachers were recruited in pay scale 17 and later illegally transferred to their favourite places allegedly after paying the three employees.

The list issued by the HED showed that the majority of those who had sought transfer through illegal means were female teachers.

A senior official of the Punjab HED said it had been disclosed that the three section officers were involved in ordering illegal postings of the teachers without approval of the relevant departmental authority and they had allegedly earned millions of rupees.

The lecturers recruited through the Punjab Public Service Commission for various subjects, including Urdu, mathematics, library science, journalism, Islamiyat, geography, chemistry and physics, had allegedly contacted the officials and obtained their favourite postings.

The official said the department had issued the list of around 50 college lecturers involved in the malpractice.

The department has also written a letter to the anti-corruption department, calling for an investigation into the matter and sharing the findings.

The official said the employees involved in corruption would face legal proceedings in view of the investigation, while departmental action under the Punjab Employees Efficiency, Discipline and Accountability (PEEDA) Act would be taken against the lecturers who had used illegal means for postings.He said he departmental investigation was also continuing and might point to more employees linked to the mafia and reveal more illegal posting and transfer orders.

He said the department had decided to strict action over the issue. However, the official said the involvement of a senior officer could not be ruled out in the issuance of such a big number of illegal orders. On the other hand, the disclosure by the department caused anxiety among college teachers with many of them fearing the cancellation of their positing orders.

“The HED authorities had created an environment in which lecturers were forced to contact the officials for positing. When the officials were free to issue the posting orders but now the names of lecturers have been publicised,” commented a college lecturer seeking anonymity.

Punjab Professors and Lecturers Association (PPLA) president Tariq Kaleem said the organisation had earlier demanded that the system of transfers should be made transparent in consultation with the teachers.

He said all the stakeholders, including lecturers, professors and the HED, should jointly develop a transparent transfer policy so that corruption should be curbed.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28^th, 2023.