Back to work: Court stays govt’s decision to suspend 35 teachers

Provincial govt had earlier declared all appointments in institutions run by the Workers Welfare Board null .

PESHAWAR:

A stay order has been issued by the Peshawar High Court (PHC) against a provincial government notification to suspend 35 teachers of Working Folks Grammar School and College in Takht Bhai, Mardan.

During the hearing on Monday, a two-member division bench comprising Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Ikramullah Khan ordered the teachers to continue to perform their duties at the education institute until a final order is issued.



Babar Khan Yousafzai, the counsel for petitioner Khalid, informed the bench that on March 28 the provincial government issued a notification declaring the appointment of all employees recruited in institutions run by the Workers Welfare Board as null and void. The notification states the appointments were illegal.

Yousafzai contended the notification was against the law and will adversely affect around 1,100 employees of various offices, including teachers and other workers, who were appointed from July 1, 2013 onwards.

According to Yousafzai, the 35 employees of Working Folks Grammar School and College included in the petition had followed all legal requirements for the appointments. They gave a written test and an interview,” he said.

The bench then issued a stay order on the notification and instructed the teachers to continue their duties till further notice.

The chairman and secretary of the Workers Welfare Board were also issued directions to file their reply explaining the suspension of the employees.

Regularising teachers

In a separate case, the same bench directed the provincial government to follow a previous order issued by the PHC and regularise 250 female teachers appointed in colleges run by the Frontier Education Foundation. It also directed to consider the regularisation with effect from January 31, 2012.

Advocates Ijaz Anwer and Zartaj Khan, counsels for petitioners Maliha Aftab and Musarrat Jabeen, told the court the PHC had last year issued an order directing the provincial government to regularise the teachers with effect from January 31, 2012. However, the provincial government issued an order stating the regularisation will be considered from August 2013.

The court was further told that the Supreme Court had also upheld the same order but the provincial government was not complying.

The bench directed the government to explain its position and to regularise the teachers within 15 days, considering their regularisation date as January 2012.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 29^th, 2014.