ISLAMABAD, Feb 15: The Supreme Court on Thursday suspended a Sindh High Court (SHC) order of annulling the provincial government’s decision of imposing ban on teachers’ unions in educational institutions.
“We will not allow educational institutions to become a political arena,” Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry observed while hearing an appeal of the Sindh government challenging the high court order of invalidating provincial government’s notification banning the union activities.
“Teachers have a noble cause to educate the nation and therefore should not be exploited for political interests and gains as they have nothing to do with issues of dams and royalties,” the chief justice observed while referring to last year’s strike by teachers in Sindh.
On July 21, 2006, the Sindh government had banned the Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association and the Government Secondary Teachers Association. The decision was challenged before the SHC which on Dec 13, 2006, declared the ban illegal and quashed the consequential actions taken against the associations’ members.
The high court had ruled that the ban was in violation of the fundamental right of freedom of association and expression guaranteed by Articles 17 (1) and 19 of the Constitution.
The Sindh government moved the Supreme Court against the verdict.
Advocate Khalid Anwar, representing the provincial government, argued before the apex court that the activities of the teachers’ unions had gone beyond their mandate. The state of emergency proclaimed on May 28, 1998, was still in force and government employees could not be granted full freedom of association, he contended.
The teachers were participating in anti-government demonstrations from political platforms to offset the plan to build dams in the country, he said. Such demonstrations were flagrant violation of the service rules, including the provisions of the Government Servants (Conduct) Rules, 1966, he argued.
All government employees, including teaching staff, were civil servants and the terms and conditions of their employment were regulated under the Sindh Civil Servants Act, 1973, he said.
There was no provision in the Societies Registration Act, 1860, and the Voluntary Welfare and Voluntary Agencies (Registration and Control) Ordinance, 1961, for the registration of civil servants’ unions or associations in the province, he said.
The teachers’ counsel Abdul Mujeeb Pirzada defended the decision of the high court with the contention that any ban on the unions would amount to violation of constitutional provisions.
The apex court admitted the appeal for regular hearing and suspended the high court decision. The next hearing will be held in two months.
