HARIPUR: Irregularities have been reported in the promotion of primary schoolteachers here.

Sources told Dawn that the matter, which involved employees of the office of the district officer education (male), had been brought to the notice of the deputy commissioner for action.

The documents available with Dawn revealed an anomaly in the list ofthe promotion of 30 senior primary school teachers (male) from BPS-14 to BPS-15 as primary school head teachers.

The list was issued vide Endorsement No 3625-32 on June 11, 2020, following the recommendation of the departmental promotion committee, which met on June 6, 2020.

The last teacher on it was Mohammad Arshad with General Serial No 476. However, another list issued by the assistant DEO (male) on Sept 5, 2020, for the promotion of four SPSTs carried the same DPC referencenumber, which was mentioned in the June 11, 2020, promotion order.

The new promotion order carried the names of four SPSTs, including two with general serial Nos 482 and 496. The previous list had the teacher with General Serial No 476 at the end.

Also, the two teachers promoted to BPS-15 had general serial Nos 463 and 465, which were already allotted to those named in the June 2020 first list.

The sources said the then DEO ordered an inquiry into the teachers’ complaints, which led to the withdrawal of the order for PSHT Shafiq Ahmad, who was promotedon Sept 5, 2020.

The relevant officials used the ‘fake’ statements of teachers Naveed Hasan and Mohammad Hanif to cover up the second order. However, the two toldDawn that they had never refused promotion. They sought inquiry and action against the relevant officials.

Sources said SPSTs Shafiqur Rehman, Mohammad Tahir and Abdul Malik formally complained to the deputy commissioner about the promotion of their juniors. The DC ordered an inquiry but its findings were never made public.

When contacted, acting district officer education Mukhtiar Khan Jadoon claimed that the promotion orders in question were issued before he was not posted to Haripur. He said the teachers, who pointed out irregularities, were given 15 days time for appeal but they didn’t come forward.

“Appeals weretime-barred, the complaints can’t be entertained,” he said.

Mr Jadoon said if all affected teachersfiled written complaints with his office,he would order an inquiry and actagainst those found involved in any wrongdoing.

He said he had already appointed a retired DEO as the head of the district promotion committee to prevent such complaints. “The committee will finalise promotion lists after thorough verification of records,” he said.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2021