Ongoing saga: Saved by the court

BIEK controller of examination's transfer stayed by SHC

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) restrained on Friday the Board of Intermediate Education, Karachi's (BIEK) chairperson from transferring the controller of examinations outside the city without seeking the court's permission.

A division bench, headed by Justice Munib Akhtar, also issued notices to the provincial law officer, the provincial chief minister's secretary on education boards and universities and the BIEK chairperson, Akhtar Ghouri Ali, to file their comments by October 13.

The petitioner, Muhammad Imran Chishti, had approached the high court apprehending his transfer to the Mirpurkhas Board of Intermediate Education, from where he was posted to BIEK on deputation and subsequently absorbed.

The court was informed that the petitioner had joined the Mirpurkhas Board of Intermediate Education in 2005. The petitioner said that in July 2007 he was transferred and posted as the BIEK deputy secretary on deputation for three years, following proper legal procedure.

He claimed that later the BIEK notified his absorption as deputy secretary in BPS-18 on November 21, 2007. The same year he was promoted to the BPS-19 grade and subsequently he was appointed as the controller of examinations on May 19, 2011.

The petitioner said the respondent, Ghouri, who held the post of the secretary to the chief minister, was appointed as chairperson of BIEK on June 20. He alleged that the chairperson had directed his subordinates to make illegal changes to students' mark sheets.

Chishti claimed that, upon his refusal to obey such illegal orders, the chairperson levelled allegations against him in the media. Therefore, the petitioner also rebutted those allegations through the media.

The petitioner said he had refused to obey the chairperson's illegal orders. Therefore, the chairperson, who is also secretary to the CM, in order to hide his corruption and illegalities, may get him transferred from Karachi to his parent department in Mirpurkhas in connivance with the CM's secretary on education boards and universities. Such action may be initiated under the garb of the Supreme Court's judgment against deputations.

The lawyers argued that the petitioner is an employee of the BIEK and not a civil servant. Therefore, the apex court's judgment does not affect his service, he added.

The court was pleaded to declare that being an employee of the education board, the petitioner's transfer from Mirpurkhas to Karachi and subsequent absorption does not come within the purview of the SC's judgment. It was also requested to restrain the board's chairperson and others from transferring the petitioner back to his parent board.

The two judges issued notices to the chief secretary, the BIEK chairperson and the CM's secretary on boards and universities to file their comments by October 13. "Till the next date of the hearing, the petitioner will not to be transferred out of Karachi without the permission of the court," the judges ruled.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 10^th, 2015.