SHC suspends transfer notification of textbook board chief

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday suspended the transfer notification of the textbook board’s chief until further orders. The direction came on a petition against the transfer and irregularities in the board’s affairs.

The petitioner’s counsel Syed Mehmood Alam Rizvi said his client Agha Sohail Ahmed Pathan was appointed as chairman of the Sindh Textbook Board (STBB) a few months ago, but the Sindh government, in violation of the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Anita Turab case, transferred the petitioner within a few months of his appointment.

The counsel said the STBB chairman holds a tenure post, adding that once the textbook board’s chief is appointed, he cannot be removed without any reason. He filed a statement along with copies of different transfer orders showing that the petitioner was transferred from one post to another quite frequently.

Rizvi said that through its impugned notification of February 14, the provincial government neither issued a show-cause notice nor provided the opportunity of a hearing to the petitioner prior to his transfer from the post of STBB chairman, which is illegal and liable to be set aside.

He also filed an application claiming that a racket was being operated within the STBB in collusion with the publishers, who have been producing books of a poorer quality and in lesser quantities as well.

He said the academic session of free distribution of books 2017-18 is in its final stage and according to the tender, March 15 is the cut-off date for provision of the books to the STBB, but the petitioner was suddenly removed from his post.

The high court was requested to set aside the impugned notification as well as to allow the petitioner to continue working as the chairman of the textbook board. After the preliminary hearing of the petition, the SHC issued notices to the provincial advocate general and education secretary among others, as well as suspended the impugned notification with regard to the transfer of the petitioner until further orders.