College teachers seek relief in time scale issue

Islamabad: The federal college teachers have complained about ‘discriminatory practice’ in the granting of higher time scales to them and moved the Islamabad High Court for relief.

The court issued notices to the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, Ministry of Finance and the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE), seeking their response to an intra-court appeal of Professor Muhammad Zubair, Khalida Makhdoom and several other teachers. The ICA was filed through lawyers Mirza Waqas Qayyum and Rana Liaqat Hayat, with the core grievance of the petitioners pertaining to the effective date from which the higher time scale was granted to them.

They sought relief in the form of higher time scale benefits to be implemented from the “due date,” the time when they became eligible rather than from the date of issuance of the notification, commonly referred to as “with immediate effect.”

The appeal challenged the "discriminatory practice in the granting of higher time scales" to federal college faculty members. A division bench, comprising Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro and Justice Muhammad Asif, heard the arguments by the counsel of the petitioners, who contended that their clients were granted higher time scales "with immediate effect" rather than from the "due date". The move caused clear discrimination, according to lawyers.

They said several of their colleagues received the higher time scale from their respective due dates, while the petitioners were deprived of similar consideration, leading to a disparity in treatment. They cited instances where colleagues of the petitioners were granted higher time scales from the due date, establishing a precedent that should have been uniformly applied.

“This inconsistent implementation of time scale upgradation created not only financial disparity but has also adversely affected seniority and promotional prospects,” said a lawyer.

He added that the petitioners had fulfilled all required conditions and were eligible for the time scale upgrades at the same time as their colleagues.

“Denying them arrears and back benefits by changing the effective date is a clear case of discriminatory treatment,” he insisted. After considering the arguments, the court directed issuance of notices to the respondents for a response and fixed May 19 as the next date of hearing.