ISLAMABAD, Jan 3: The education wing of the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) ignored a Supreme Court order when it recommended 51 government school teachers to the Establishment Division for promotion last September.
Officials of the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) say they had revised their list of teachers to be promoted after the Supreme Court order came that seniority of the teachers must be honoured in promoting them to higher grades. But the CADD acted on the list sent earlier to them.
“We will look into the matter,” promised secretary CADD Imtiaz Inayat Elahi to Dawn on Tuesday, saying the faux pas had just come to his knowledge.
“If there is any discrepancy in connection with any court ruling, we will honour the decision and also initiate a departmental inquiry,” he assured.
While the Establishment Division promoted the teachers as recommended by the CADD, three senior teachers included in the FDE's revised list but ignored have gone to the Islamabad High Court to seek justice.
Documents seen by Dawn show promotions were given as per the list forwarded by FDE in May 2011. Some 51 senior teachers, vice principals and head masters were to be promoted from grades 18, 19 and 20.
In its March 2011 judgment on the issue of seniority of deputy head masters (vice-principals) and senior teachers the Supreme Court said that promoted headmasters and vice principals of grade 18 should be senior to any senior teacher, whether he has been promoted to the higher grade.
There are nine different gazetted cadres in the Federal Directorate of Education with a four-tier promotion formula.
An official close to the developments said that promotions are to be made in relation to the strength of respective cadre.
The strength of senior teachers cadre is 23. Among the aggrieved senior teachers, he said, three deserved to be promoted to grade 19 and eight to grade 18.
Although the FDE's revised list of the teachers to be promoted in accordance with the Supreme Court order reached CADD before the Central Selection Board met to approve the promotions, its officials failed to forward it to the Establishment Division.An official of the FDE claimed: “It is the education wing of the CADD which played foul. It was specifically told not to consider the previous list,” said a FDE official, explaining that a committee was set up to revise the list in the light of the apex court's decision.
Meanwhile, when approached, secretary CADD Imtiaz Inayat Elahi promised to look into the matter and honour merit.
“Merit will stay at any cost and no one will be deprived of his genuine right of promotion,” he assured.