ISLAMABAD, Dec 6: Teachers of federal government education institutions plan to launch a protest drive this week against the Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation's decision terming them ineligible to get plots in G-14 under the 75 per cent quota reserved for government servants.

The teachers and other staff of schools and colleges of the federal capital, the most vulnerable segment of the government servants, will hold a protest demonstration outside the parliament. They have also vowed to continue their drive if their grievances are not resolved.

"With no one in the government ready to listen to our grievances, we are preparing ourselves for a long drawn struggle to get our rights as the civil servants of Government of Pakistan," a senior professor on condition of anonymity said.

The dispute started some time back when the foundation refused to entertain teachers' applications for G-14 under the 75 per cent quota meant for government servants on the plea that educational institutions did not fulfil the definition of being attached departments of the federal government.

This led to a debate involving Establishment Division, Cabinet Division, education and housing ministries over the status of teachers, who are selected by the Federal Public Service Commission, governed by the government servant rules, and paid salaries from the national exchequer like other civil servants.

Moreover, teachers in the past have been considered for such allotments. Yet the housing foundation denied them their right and declared that the teachers could not be considered civil servants.

The Cabinet Division referred the matter to the Establishment Division's management services wing to give its opinion about the status of the teachers as questioned by the foundation.

The Establishment Division stated in its reply: "The federal government education institutions are part and parcel of the Federal Directorate of Education, which is an attached department of the Ministry of Education and, hence, their employees are eligible for 75 per cent quota reserved for government employees in the housing schemes of the housing foundation."

The education ministry, in its opinion, referred to the Establishment Division's letter and said: "This ministry is also of the opinion that employees (teaching and non-teaching) of all education institutions working under Federal Directorate of Education are civil servants and should be considered for allotment of plots under 75 per cent quota."

These clarifications failed to satisfy the big-wigs of the housing foundation and teachers' applications were not entertained under the 75 per cent quota. The teachers then turned to the Lahore High Court for justice.

Their lawyer, while presenting their case, stated: "The precise grievance of the petitioners (teachers) is that in derogation of their rights, the housing foundation has treated them as employees of autonomous and semi-autonomous organizations, while their rightful status is that of civil servants eligible for a 75 per cent allotment quota."

The LHC, however, disposed of the petition and referred the matter to the executive committee of the foundation, comprising top bureaucrats of the federal government, to decide the fate of the teachers' plea.

The executive committee, in its decision, noted: "There is no doubt the employees of education institutions are government employees, but the opinion of the Management Services Wing of Establishment Division that the federal government education institutions are part and parcel of the Federal Directorate of Education is vague."