PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday issued a stay order against contracts made with the preferred publishers for the printing of textbooks and profit-sharing agreements and restrained the government from entering into contract with the private publishers.
Hearing a petition filed by MN Printers and others, the two-member bench comprising Justice Wiqar Ahmad and Justice Sabitullah also issued notices to the parties to submit replies by tomorrow (Thursday).
the petitioners’ lawyer Jehanzaib Mehsud told the court that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Textbook Board followed the 2017 policy, under which advertisements were published for the printing of textbooks, and private publishers participated in the bidding process.
After completing legal procedures, he pleaded the textbooks were reviewed, and the DCTE granted them a No Objection Certificate (NOC), while the provincial selection committee picked the best book.
He argued that in 2021, the former prime minister introduced a uniform curriculum policy across the country, declaring that the federal government would provide free textbooks to government schools. Under this policy, the Textbook Board benefited because it no longer had to pay royalties to publishers, as the government itself printed these books, which was beneficial for the board.
He explained that while the federal government provided free textbooks for grades 1 to 5, for grades 6 to 8, an agreement was made with selected private publishers to sell the books in the market.
Under this agreement, he contended that these publishers were also required to share their profits with the Textbook Board. However, the lawyer argued that under the previous policy amendments, there was no concept of profit-sharing.
He said that now the government has started making agreements with preferred persons for printing textbooks, bypassing the existing laws, which was unfair. This decision would further harm the local industry, which was already struggling.
He informed the court that the petitioners were excluded from this process, even though the entire procedure was legally required to be conducted through competitive bidding. He said that eliminating the bidding process was equivalent to favouring selected persons.
The lawyer also pledged that the federal government sent books to private publishers without bidding and instructed the relevant authorities to contract with them. He argued that his clients were also publishers, but they were not being allowed to participate in the bidding process.
He said that rules and policies were completely ignored, and through the National Curriculum Council, selected publishers were brought in through an unlawful process.He argued that agreements were being made with these preferred publishers, including profit-sharing arrangements, even though there was no legal provision for such agreements.He prayed the court that these agreements be halted and that the entire process be conducted transparently through an open bidding process, which was accepted
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