Court issues notice to PSC chairman, secretary in teachers’ appointment

PESHAWAR: A division bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) has put on notice the chairman and secretary of the Public Service Commission, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in a writ petition challenging appointment of hundreds of female Senior English Teachers (SETs) and Secondary School Teachers (SSTs) in the province.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Mian Fasihul Mulk and Justice Mrs Irshad Qaisar Thursday issued notices to the chairman and secretary of Public Service Commission (PSC) to explain their position about the appointments, which the petitioners claimed were unlawful and made on political basis as no written test was conducted for the purpose.

The female candidates for the post of SET including Ms Suraya, Bibi Zaitoon and Husna Amin, residents of Peshawar, had filed the petition.The petitioners’ lawyer Ziaur Rahman Tajik contended that the PSC had advertised 973 posts of female SETs and SSTs and the petitioners had applied for the posts.

He submitted that being eligible candidates, the PSC called them for interview for the post of SET (Arts), but the petitioners were shocked to know that other less qualified and with low academic record compared to them were appointed.

The petition noted that 973 posts were advertised and only 710 candidates were appointed while 263 posts were still vacant.He submitted that in the tentative list the petitioners’ names were mentioned meaning that they had qualified the interview but later due to unknown reasons they were ignored in the appointments.

It was argued that the petitioners had not been treated in accordance with law as candidates from Zone-3 having low qualification and less marks were recommended for appointment while the petitioners having high marks and qualification were ignored. The petitioners said this was the reason the merit list of all candidates from Zone-3 recommended and rejected for appointment wasn’t given to them when demanded.

The petitioners’ lawyer argued that under Article 1 19-A of Constitution every person has the right to have access to information in all matters of public importance subject to regulation and reasonable restrictions imposed by law and refusal to provide the merit list was not only illegal but also unconstitutional.

He also cited judgments of Supreme Court under which only verbal interview of three to four minutes was not fair in the appointments, particularly when there is deterioration in moral values and corruption and nepotism is on the increase.

Posted in: Peshawar news