Humayun Khan
PESHAWAR: A two-member bench of Peshawar High Court PHC) comprising Justice has stopped the appointment of teaching staff on management posts in the Education Department and sought a response from the provincial government within 14 days, on Wednesday.
PHC annoyed replacement of management officers by teaching cadre and most management cadre officers are being made Officers on Special Duty (OSD) and are being paid salaries at home. PHC made this observation during the hearing of a writ petition filed by Mansoor Jafar. Section Officer Education Department along with Additional Advocate General appeared before the court.
The counsel Khalid Rehman advocate informed PHC that the petitioners are management cadre officers of grades 16, 17, 18, and 19 who were appointed to these posts after the separation of management and teaching cadres in the Education Department in 2009. He said that the provincial government had implemented the 2009 Education Policy, creating separate management and teaching cadres to improve the quality of education.
However, despite the court’s orders, the Education Department has made 25 management cadre officers as OSDs and replaced them with teaching cadre officers over the past two and a half months, the counsel argued.
The lawyer added that it has created administrative issues, as management officers have received training to perform administrative tasks, but teaching cadre officers are being appointed to these posts. He added that there are currently 466 management cadre posts and 501 teaching cadre posts in the Education Department, with 109 posts vacant.
However, the provincial government and Education Department officials are appointing favorite individuals and posting teaching cadre officers to important positions, violating the principles of the Education Policy. PHC’s divisional bench comprising of Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Ijaz Khan Sabi stopped further appointments of teaching staff on management posts and sought a response from the provincial government within 14 days.
