Too much corruption in KP Workers Welfare Board: CJP

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday threw out a petition against the dismissal of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Workers Welfare Board teachers and staff, threatening to dissolve the Board and saying that all officers should be sacked.

The decision was announced by a two-member bench of the apex court — comprising Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan during a hearing of a petition against the dismissal of 294 teachers and other staff members.

During the hearing today, the chief justice said that the court would not tolerate nepotism by ministers in any institution. “There is too much corruption in KP Workers Welfare Board and it is full of ghost employees,” the CJP remarked.

The top judge added that all the appointments were political. “It seems like the entire KP is doing government jobs. Workers Welfare Board is the most corrupt institution there is and not one person has been employed according to law,” CJP Ahmed noted. The chief justice said that the hard-earned money of labourers is wasted on political bribes.

The court, while dismissing the petition, threatened to dissolve the Board and sack all officers. “Those getting huge paychecks have done nothing for the institution,” he added. Justice Gulzar said the reason that the government was not interested in the Workers Welfare Fund was that it involved the money of labourers and workers.

In April, the apex court had restrained the bench number 1 of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) from hearing the Worker Welfare Board’s plea seeking constitution of a larger bench. The two-member bench had held that the PHC could not take up the matter unless the appeals pending with the Supreme Court were decided.