LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Thursday sought a reply from the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) on a petition challenging one-time exemption given to its 80 employees from verification of degrees and experience certificates, which was mandatory as per the recruitment rules.
A lawyer, Chaudhry Shoaib Saleem, filed the petition pleading that more than 1,000 employees had been working in the PEF and verification of their degrees and experience certificates was mandatory as per the Contract Appointment Rules 2005 during the first three months of their service.
He said as per documents he obtained under Right to Information Act, the verification of degrees and experience certificates of all employees was carried out by the PEF, however, 80 employees ranging from lower staff to directors were given an exemption from the scrutiny.
He said instead of terminating all such employees or initiating an inquiry against them, the PEF board of directors held a meeting on May 13, 2016, and gave exemption to all such employees giving them a legal protection with retrospective effect so that no disciplinary action could be taken against them in future as well.
He said it was a unique example of corruption and favouritism in any public department where 80 people including senior officers had been drawing salary in millions notwithstanding their educational certificates were either deficient, fake or unverified.
He asked the court to declare the impugned act of the PEF board of directors illegal and terminate them from service forthwith.
Justice Farrukh Irfan Khan sought a reply from the foundation.
Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2018