RAWALPINDI, Jan 5: The executive council of Punjab Professors and Lecturers Association (PPLA) has expressed concern over what it termed, unjustifiable delay, in the promotion of senior lecturers.

In a meeting held on Sunday, the council decided to hold meetings with the chief secretary and secretary education to apprise them of the worries of the lecturers as a result of this delay.

The PPLA representatives from all over the Rawalpindi Division participated in the meeting held to discuss various problems being faced by the teachers. The meeting was presided over by the association president, Mohammad Ilyas Qureshi.

Others present on the occasion included PPLA senior vice- president Sardar Iftikhar Hussain, general-secretary Rauf Ahmad Shah, vice-president, Rawalpindi District, Mohammad Siddiq, vice- president, Attock District, and vice-president, Chakwal District, Qadeer Ahmad.

The participants were informed that a meeting of the education department officials concerned was held on December 24, 2001, to discuss the promotion cases of professors from grade 18 to grade 19. However, despite the passage of more than a year, no order has been issued so far.

Many professors will retire while awaiting their promotion to the next scale. Similarly, a meeting of the education departments officials was held on April 24, 2002, to discuss the promotion cases due from grade 17 to grade 18. But, these cases are also lying pending. In the same way, many professors have their promotion due from scale 19 to 20, but it was denied to them despite the fact that seats are lying vacant in the next grade.

The meeting asked the education authorities to finalize all promotion cases as early as possible.