In contempt: Court summons AIG, finance director of police school

Over 50 school employees demand payment of salaries, reinstatement.

PESHAWAR:

A court has sought reply from additional inspector general of police and director finance of Police Public School and College in a case pertaining to non-payment of salaries to and reinstatement of the school staff.

Peshawar High Court (PHC) Chief Justice (CJ) Dost Muhammad Khan on Wednesday directed the two officials to release salaries of the 50 aggrieved employees and to appear before the court on Thursday (today).

The CJ was approached by a group of employees of the school, including teachers and clerks, claiming that they had been reinstated into the school two and half years back on the orders of a court; however, the school administration has refused to let them enter the institute and is not paying them salaries.

The CJ converted their application into a contempt of court petition and asked Additional Advocate General Naveed Akhtar to summon Deputy Superintendent of Police - Legal Mian Imtiaz Gull in court immediately.

When Gull reached the court, he informed the CJ that the employees’ salaries have been dispatched. His claim, however, was rebutted by the employees present at the premises.

The CJ said that the school had been ordered to pay the employees, adding that the administration did not challenge the judgment. He said the petitioners, including some housewives, were compelled to file a contempt of court application against the school on July 24; however, another opportunity was given to the administration to comply with the court orders.

A schoolteacher, Dr Fazl-e-Karim, who is a PhD in Urdu, told The Express Tribune that although the school was privatised, the PHC declared them provincial employees.

He said he taught at the school for more than 20 years, but the school administration fired him, along with 49 other staff members, without reason. “The court is now our last hope,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 2^nd, 2012.