ISLAMABAD: The recent judgment of Islamabad High Court (IHC) which declared the appointment of scores of teachers in the government-run institutions in the federal capital as illegal has been challenged in the same court.

The sacked teachers filed petitions in the IHC through Advocate Hafiz S.A. Rehman challenging the November 1 judgment of the single-member bench, comprising Justice Athar Minallah.

The petitioners requested that the judgment be set aside and they be allowed to join duties as regular employees from the dates of notifications issued for their hiring. They further requested the court that during the pendency of the intra-court appeal, the respondents may be restrained from taking any adverse action against the appellants.

In the petition, the counsel said the daily-wage teachers had sought the court’s intervention for joining their duties but the single bench did not give its verdict on this particular point. Instead, he said, their appointments were declared illegal.

Justice Minallah had declared that the appointment of all daily-wage staffers in government schools and colleges in the capital without following due procedure and observing principles of transparency was illegal, void and tantamount to misconduct on part of the appointing authority.

However, the daily wagers who were appointed through a transparent recruitment process and had been demanding regularisation in basic pay scale grade 1 to 15 shall be scrutinised by their respective departments in light of a recent policy.

He said each petitioner shall be granted a fair hearing and that each case shall be considered and decided by the relevant competent authority within 90 days.

The teachers appointed in different schools and colleges on daily wages, contracts or as contingent staff in grade 16 and above had approached the court seeking regularisation of their services.

Justice Minallah also noted that teachers who were appointed without any prior advertisements of the posts but had served for a considerable time deserved consideration from the federal government.

The longstanding issue of nearly 2,000 daily wage and contractual teaching and non-teaching staff has been lingering for years. Despite having gone through several rounds of discussion in various parliamentary committees and even on the floor of parliament, little had been done to resolve their grievances.

After holding a number of hearings since February this year, the IHC had concluded proceedings on August 2. It subsequently withheld its decision on miscellaneous petitions which were announced on November 1.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2017