FAISALABAD, Jan 28: The Punjab Ad hoc Lecturers Association has urged the governor to order reinstatement of all ad hoc lecturers from the date of termination of their service.

Talking to newsmen here on Monday, association vice-president Syed Azharul Hassan Naqvi said that the federal and Sindh public service commissions had already recommended confirmation of all the ad hoc lecturers through a notification. He regretted that this was not done in the Punjab for reasons best known to high-ups of the education department.

He said that ad-hoc lecturers were recruited owing to shortage of teaching staff, specially subject specialists in English, Urdu, Islamic studies, biology, psychology, in almost all the colleges of the province.

The services of ad hoc lecturers appointed in 1972, 1974, 1982, 1983 and 1989 were regularized two years after their recruitment without making any reference to the Punjab Public Service Commission. But the lecturers appointed in 1993 and 1996 have been sacked without any reason.

He said that ad hoc lecturers had been performing their duties honestly and their annual confidential reports (ACRs) were also excellent. Most ad hoc lecturers are M Phil and Ph D degree holders and have vast teaching experience but they were terminated from service in June last year.

Azharul Hassan said that in 1996, the PPSC advertised 850 posts of the lecturers. Around 2,000 ad hoc lecturers and thousands of fresh candidates were in the race for the same. In 1997, the PPSC advertised two posts but hundreds of candidates responded.

ANTI-ENCROACHMENT DRIVE: Operation against encroachments will be launched in the city within next couple of days on the instructions of the provincial government.