Justice prevails: Sindh High Court cancels illegal promotion orders

Despite withdrawal of orders, BISE employees continue pen-down strike.

SUKKUR: A division bench of the Sindh High Court in Sukkur cancelled the orders of the boards and universities affairs secretary, Riaz Ahmed Memon, who gave illegal promotions to junior officers on Tuesday.

The orders were cancelled by the division bench, which comprised of Justices Riyazat Ali Sahar and Mohammad Zafar Rajput, on a constitutional petition filed by grade-19 Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) officer Ghulam Qadir Dharejo, who is the inspector of colleges and was the acting secretary before a grade-18 officer was promoted to the position.



Dharejo stated that he is a grade-19 officer and is already looking after the position of a secretary, his lawyer Qurban Ali Malano informed The Express Tribune. Dharejo pleaded that junior officers Abdul Razzaq Bhutto and Umer Farooq Pirzada were promoted to the posts of secretary and controller of examination, respectively through a notification issued by Memon on November 8.

These orders were in violation of the Supreme Court’s orders, which clearly state that no officer can be promoted to a higher grade position if a senior officer is available for that promotion. After hearing the petition and keeping in view the orders of the Supreme Court, the division bench cancelled the promotion orders, Malano added.

Meanwhile, the employees of the BISE, Sukkur, continued their pen-down strike against these promotions for the second day on Tuesday. “Our protest will continue until Memon is removed from his post as secretary for boards and universities affairs,” said the president of All Pakistan Clerks Association BISE unit, Abdul Fatah Mahar, who was happy to hear that the illegal promotions were cancelled.

A section officer from CM House called BISE authorities today and asked them to return the orders issued on November 8, Mahar claimed. He added, however, that they can cancel the orders on their own accord and such actions show their insincerity towards the board.

Meanwhile, BISE Sukkur chairperson Syed Ghulam Mujtaba Shah tried to convince the protesters to end the strike but was unable to do so. Shah informed The Express Tribune that he was hopeful that the employees will end the strike by tomorrow.

Showing support

The protesters at BISE Sukkur were joined by the employees of BISE Larkana. These workers also resorted to a pen-down strike on Tuesday demanding action against Memon. A two-hour token strike was also observed by the employees of the education boards in Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas and Karachi as well, according to Mahar.

Representatives of various government associations including Sindh professor and lecturers association and the health department also visited the protesters today to show their support to the board. Some of them even threatened to join the protest if the demands of the BISE workers are not met.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th,2013.