January 02, 2008	Wednesday	Zilhaj 22, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Jan 1: The Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) has delayed the regularisation of 139 contractual teachers working in the OPF girls college due to the sudden crisis in the aftermath of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination.

The caretaker federal minister for labour, manpower and overseas Pakistanis, Nisar A. Ghumman, had promised that the teachers would be made permanent from January 1. He had also directed the OPF administration to complete all the formalities in this regard.

It may be mentioned that the contractual teachers had filed a case in the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court alleging that the OPF had decided to sack them in order to recruit party supporters of former federal minister for overseas Pakistanis Ghulam Sarwar Khan.

The teachers, who have been working in the college for the last 10-15 years, moved the court after the OPF directed them to apply afresh for the posts and appear in a test and interview along with other applicants.

The teachers refused to submit applications and demanded that they should be regularised on the basis of their performance and experience.

The court stayed the appointment process for the posts on which teachers had already been working.

With the induction of the caretaker government, the new minister advised the teachers to withdraw their case from the court and submit applications along with degrees/certificates, so that their regularisation process could be initiated.

But it has been learnt that only 67 of the 139 contractual teachers submitted applications, while the remaining refused and said they would not withdraw their case unless they were regularised.

It has also been learnt that the teachers’ counsel, Shoaib Shaheen, has advised the teachers not to withdraw the case before they were regularised.

He has sent a notice to the OPF managing director and the secretary as well as the college asking them whether they were going to regularise the teachers.

The counsel maintained that the OPF authorities already had the degrees/certificates and CVs of all the teachers and there was no need to press them for re-submission of the documents.

The OPF authorities have not yet replied to the notice, sources said, adding that the issue had been discussed and the response was expected in a few days.