Court halts merger of Fata Edu Directorate into KP

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday restrained the provincial government from the merger of the Directorate of Education for erstwhile Fata with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Education Department till the next order of the court.

A division bench comprising PHC Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Musarrat Hilali issued the restraining order in a writ petition filed by Naseer Shah, president of All Tribal Teachers Association of the newly merged districts. The court issued the restraining order in the petition in which the teachers from the merged districts sought proper strategy, reformation, service structure, policy and planning for the employees of the Directorate of Education before the merger.

The bench fixed April 24 for the next hearing, directing the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government through the secretary establishment to submit a reply in the petition.

During the hearing, Daris Khan, counsel for the petitioners, submitted that after the merger of the erstwhile Fata with the KP province, the secretary Elementary and Secondary Education issued a notification on December 14, 2018, stating that Fata Directorate for Education had been merged into the KP Elementary and Secondary Education Department.

The lawyer argued that the notification was issued without proper infrastructure, scheme, planning and reformation.

He said the secretary education on January 8, 2019, issued another notification stating that the defunct Directorate of Education of erstwhile Fata be shifted to the Directorate of Elementary and Secondary Education KP along with supporting staff and records.

The lawyer submitted that the petitioners first approached the respondents and other forums for suspension of the notification of the merger till devising a proper strategy, service structure, policy and planning for the employees’ seniority, promotion and up-gradation as per the law, but to no avail.

He also pointed out that Supreme Court of Pakistan, in an appeal of the KP government, gave six months to the government for development of infrastructure and steps to bring uniform system as prevailing in the province for the redressal of the grievances of the petitioners.