LARKANA, Sept 12: The Larkana circuit bench of the Sindh High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the provincial secretary of education and regional director of colleges to appear in court on Sept 20 on a petition challenging the appointment of a junior teacher as principal of the Government Arts and Commerce College.

The court further asked the regional director to bring with him the report he had sent to the secretary of education after visiting the college on Sept 1.

Ali Akbar Jagirani advocate, the petitioner, claimed that the secretary had appointed a junior teacher of grade-18 as in-charge principal after replacing associate professor Nazeer Shaikh who was in grade-19, much to the anger of teaching faculty.

The secretary’s order had disturbed the college’s academic atmosphere and so much annoyed the teachers that no one was willing to perform duties under the new principal, he said.

He said that it was the only government-run college in the district where poor students could get quality education without any interruption. At present, 3,000 students from Dadu, Shikarpur, Qambar-Shahdadkot and their adjoining districts and towns were enrolled in the college, he said. The petitioner said that the college had excellent academic record and it had been running smoothly for past three decades. It had no example of any activity harmful to the educational atmosphere, he said.

He prayed the court to quash the notification for appointment issued by the secretary of education and direct him to appoint a senior person to the post of principal.