Islamabad HC reserves judgment on teachers’ time scale

Islamabad:The Islamabad High Court (HC) reserved its judgment on a case concerning the grant of higher time scale retrospectively to teachers. The time scale case, presided over by Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir, saw arguments from both sides presenting their perspectives on the matter.

During the proceedings, the Assistant Attorney General (AAG) and the Departmental representative took the rostrum and contended that, according to the Office Memorandum (OM) issued by the Finance Division, time scale could not be granted retrospectively. The counsel for the petitioners, Mr. Mirza Waqas Qayyum, countered this stance by citing instances where the Education Department had previously granted time scale to teachers from a back date, citing similar precedents.

Mr. Waqas raised objections to the OM issued by the Finance Division, asserting that it was not issued by the relevant authority, namely the Regulation Wing of the Finance Division responsible for framing policies and issuing such OMs. Instead, the OM in question was issued by a Deputy Secretary Expenditure. The counsel argued that the Deputy Secretary, being a part of the Education Ministry, was responsible for overseeing expenditure matters within the ministry only. He was a member of the Departmental Promotion Committee(DPC) of the Education Ministry and cannot issue such OM. The sole authority rests with the Regulation Wing of the Finance Division. Furthermore, Mr. Waqas informed the court that promotion cases of retired civil servants could be presented before the promotion committee based on specific court orders, referring to another OM from the Finance Division and a judgment on this matter. After hearing arguments from both sides, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir reserved the verdict, which will be announced at a later date.