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Ministry told to prioritise promotion cases of retiring teachers

Our Correspondent
Monday, Jun 17, 2024

Islamabad: The Islamabad High Court has asked the Ministry of Federal Education andProfessional Training (MOFE&PT) to prioritise decision on the promotion cases of the teachers nearing retirement.

During a hearing into petitions on the matter, Justice Kiyani directed the education secretary to consider the promotion cases of the teachers set to retire before the meeting of the Departmental Promotion Committee on June 28, 2024.

The case involves 27 junior section teachers from Islamabad model colleges, who seek the rectification of a four-tier promotion formula disrupted in 2011. The issue arose when BPS-16 teacher posts were upgraded to BPS-17 creating a disordered service structure, which denied many teachers their rightful promotions.

After failing to claim justice for many years, the petitioners moved the high court in September 2020 for relief. Following several hearings and comprehensive arguments from both sides, IHC Justice Mohsin Akhter Kiyani ruled in favour of the petitioners. He directed the finance and education ministries to rectify the four-tier formula within six months, setting a deadline for implementation on December 10, 2022. Despite the clear court directives, both the ministries didn't comply, leading the petitioners to file a criminal case against the respondents on January 18, 2023. Since then, 16 hearings have taken place with Justice Kiyani constantly asking respondents to fix the formula and hold the DPC meeting based on the correct ratio of the formula.

During the hearing, one of the petitioners informed the court that she was set to retire on June 27, 2024, just a day before the scheduled DPC meeting. Justice Kiyani observed that he expected that the education secretary would consider the cases of all petitioners set to retire before that meeting, highlighting the need for prompt attention to their promotions.