May 01, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 24, 1429

ISLAMABAD, April 30: Islamabad High Court Wednesday directed the Ministry of Education to regularise services of 52 contract/daily-wage teachers working in different institutions of the federal capital.

It also directed the authorities to adjust them on their existing posts from the date of their appointments.

IHC Chief Justice Sardar Mohammad Aslam issued these directives after hearing eight identical petitions of 52 teachers.

The decision was also taken in the light of an earlier IHC decision by Justice Dr Sajid Qureshi on April 2, in which services of 45 contract teachers were regularised.

Raja Mohammad Khan and Ali Murad Baloch, counsels for the petitioners, informed the court that their clients had been working for the last many years in various educational institutes of the capital on contract and daily wage basis.

They were paid with meagre salaries and were even deprived of many facilities including salaries during vacations, they added.

The lawyers apprised the court that the teachers had been working for a long period and their performance was also found satisfactory by the authorities concerned.

Now, they cannot apply for other government posts due to age factor and the previous precedent of daily wagers should be considered whose services were regularised, they emphasised.

Moreover, contract period of majority of these teachers were going to be expired soon, they said, citing precedents of Supreme Court, Lahore High Court and Islamabad High Court.—APP