PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has issued contempt notices to the director of the elementary and secondary (E&S) education department and Kohat district education officer (female) for conducting tests to fill the Certified Teacher-Information Technology vacancies despite a stay order issued against it.

A bench consisting of Chief Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Syed Arshad Ali issued the order for the purpose over a petition of candidate Aneela Afridi, who insisted that the court had stopped the E&S education director and DEO from holding BTS test for filling three vacant posts but they conducted the test in Kohat on Jan 23.

It ordered the fixing of the petition for hearing on Mar 9 along with the main petition filed by Ms Aneela against the appointment of three candidates ‘without the required qualification’.

The bench ordered the director and DEO (female) to respond to the petition during the next hearing.

Malik Ihtishamul Haq, lawyer for the petitioner, said his client had challenged appointments against the CT-IT posts in Kohat.

Candidate insists tests conducted to fill teacher posts despite stay order

He said the petitioner had also challenged a notification of the E&SE department issued on Apr 24, 2017, which provided that an appointed candidate shall acquire a required qualification within three years of his or her appointment.

The lawyer said the petitioner had requested the court to declare unconstitutional and discriminatory the impugned notification to the extent of acquiring qualification within three years.

He contended that on Jan 28, a high court bench had issued a stay order in favour of his client and directed the respondents not to re-advertise vacancies.

Mr Ihtesham said the respondents not only re-advertised the posts but also convened the NTS test on Jan 23 prompting him to file an application on behalf of his client for staying the same.

He said on Jan 21, a high court bench ordered the director and DEO to maintain status quo on the issue but in violation of that order, the latter went ahead with the NTS test on Jan 23.

The lawyer requested the bench to initiate contempt proceedings against the two respondents and punish them accordingly.

He said the Kohat DEO (female) had advertised some posts of CT-IT (BPS-12) in Kohat on May 19, 2019, and as his client had requisite qualifications, she had applied for them.

Mr Ihtesham claimed that after the process of screening and short-listing test, a first tentative merit list was displayed in which the petitioner was shown at Serial No 2.

He claimed that the DEO had appointed four candidates and three of them didn’t possess the required qualifications and therefore, they were illegally considered for the posts and theyr appointments were illegal.

The lawyer argued that all those candidates, who had acquired certificate and diploma of certified teacher, associate degree in education and diploma in information technology, would become redundant and of no use due to the impugned notification.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2021