PESHAWAR, Feb 25: A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court has admitted to full hearing a writ petition filed by a teacher who has requested that AIOU's bachelor's degree in library science should be declared equivalent to graduation.

The bench comprising Justice Malik Hamid Saeed and Justice Qazi Ahsanullah Qureshi on Tuesday also put on notice the NWFP government and the school and literacy department.

The petition has been filed by a PTC (Primary Teaching Certificate) teacher, Kamal Gul, who has been denied three advance increments on the grounds that his bachelor's degree in library and information science is not equivalent to general graduation.

Advocate Bashir Khan Tanghi, who appeared for the petitioner, contended that the said degree was equivalent to general graduation for all purposes. He pointed out that all the eight subjects included in the bachelor's syllabus had been taught during the course. He said the university had also issued an equivalence certificate to the petitioner.

The petitioner was appointed in the education department in BPS 7 in March 1992. He acquired his degree in library science from Allama Iqbal Open University in 2001.

In August 1983 the provincial finance department had issued a notification, directing that three advance increments should be given to all those PTC teachers who acquired a BA or BSC degree.

When the petitioner applied for increments, the education department disallowed his request. It said since words 'bachelor in library science' were not mentioned in the finance department's letter, hence the degree was not equivalent to graduation.