Recruitment: Schools secy told to appoint 73 teachers

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court on Tuesday ordered the Punjab schools secretary to appoint 73 senior secondary teachers (SSTs), elementary schools teachers (ESTs) and district trainer educators (DPEs) as headmasters and deputy district education officers (DDEOs) in light of recommendations made by the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC).

Petitioners Ahmad Suleman and others had submitted through their counsels that they passed exams held by the PPSC for 314 headmaster/DDEO vacancies and also successfully cleared their interviews on August 25, 2010. But a scrutiny committee later denied them the appointments on the grounds that they were not qualified for the posts.

The petitioners argued that the scrutiny committee was illegal. They said that 123 female candidates had not been scrutinised by the committee, so it was discriminatory for the committee to have examined their applications. They asked the court to direct the PPSC to issue recommendations on the basis of their interviews without considering the input of the scrutiny committee.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7^th, 2011.