Education corruption: ‘Illegal’ appointments challenged in Sindh High Court

30 prospective teachers have filed a petition alleging corruption at education department.

HYDERABAD: For months, they waited for things to get moving in the right direction but then decided to take their case to court. Thirty prospective teachers, who had appeared in the April 29 written test and the subsequent interviews, have filed a petition in Sindh High Court alleging corruption in the appointments at the education department.

In February and April, the department had announced vacancies for teaching Sindhi language, Arabic, Islamiyat and drawing among other subjects. The recruitment was to be done from Hyderabad, Tando Muhammad Khan, Badin and Thatta districts. Although the exact number of posts was not declared, more than 250 appointments have reportedly been made against the advertised posts.

“The education officials have sold the posts against bribes ranging between Rs200,000 and Rs500,000,” the petitioners’ lawyer, Razia Patoli, alleged. She claimed that people from Sanghar, Dadu, Tando Allahyar, Matiari and even Khuzdar district in Balochistan have been given the jobs. The lawyer also attached the offer letters of 14 such appointments in the petition.

The petitioners appealed to the court to order the education department to cancel their posting orders, issue the merit list and freeze their salary accounts.

They also asked the court also summon the anti-corruption director along with the record of the recent raid he conducted at the Hyderabad education office. The widespread complaints of irregularities had drawn an anti-corruption cell raid last week.

The anti-corruption deputy director, Kambo Khan Marri, could not be contacted for an update of the investigation.

After hearing the arguments, Justices Muhammad Tasnim and Habib-ur-Rehman Shaikh issued notices to the respondents, including the Sindh secretary education, the Hyderabad schools director, the Hyderabad education officer and the district accounts officer, for October 31.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 4^th, 2012.