October 18, 2006	Wednesday	Ramazan 24, 1427

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LAHORE, Oct 17: The Lahore High Court has served fresh notices on the Punjab education secretary to submit in a fortnight the reply as to how and why Mohammad Farooq was allowed to work as a teacher for 12 years although he was illiterate.

The court also issued a similar notice to the district education officer, Gujrat, for a similar period of time to answer the same question raised by a resident, Rashed Mahmood Cheema, in two separate writ petitions that Farooq had been teaching at a government primary school at Tanda village without a proper qualification.

The petitioner had also requested the court to get a criminal case registered against Farooq for forging certificates to get the employment. The request was granted when the court directed the Gujrat DPO, present in the court on a summons, to register a case of fraud against Farooq. The Gujrat police later arrested him as he came out of the court.

Mr Cheema, who moved the LHC through advocate M.D Tahir, also requested the court to issue orders to the education department to recover salaries and other benefits that the allegedly bogus teacher had received from the department in 12 years.

The petitioner submitted that he had approached the DEO earlier through an application for an inquiry against the respondent. The DEO ordered the inquiry and also required the teacher to undergo a written test.

It was surprising for the district education department that the teacher failed in even solving an arithmetic sum which a class III student could have solved.