PESHAWAR: Nine senior officers of education department’s management cadre in BPS-19 have been getting salaries without performing duty for the last eight months as summary regarding their posting against different posts has been pending in the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, according to sources.

“It is strange that the teachers have been serving on management posts including district education officers and additional directors while officers of the management cadre has been waiting for their posting from the last eight months,” a district education officer told Dawn.

Sources said that appointment of teachers on the posts of management cadre was in violation of the decision of Peshawar High Court. The provincial government promoted 14 officers of management cadre to BPS-19 in May and only five of them were deputed as DEOs in different districts.

Similarly, the provincial government also promoted seven teachers to BPS-20 but did not post them despite the lapse of one year as six of them were still working on BPS-19 posts while one of them got salaries for entire year without doing any duty, officials said.

They said that such teachers were promoted to BPS-20 in December 2018.

Official terms interference by PTI lawmakers main reason for delay

Adviser to Chief Minister Ziaullah Bangash, when contacted, said that education department sent the summary for the posting of the management cadre officers about four or five months ago.

“The summary is pending in Chief Minister’s Secretariat,” he said, adding that officers of management cadre would be posted as DEOs after the approval of chief minister.

Mr Bangash said that all the teachers serving as DEOs would be transferred to schools as the department decided that only officials of management cadre would be serving as DEOs.

Officials said that non-posting of the promoted officers and teachers against their positions was a violation of the decision of provincial government according to which the department concerned was responsible to post the promoted officers within 15 days.

“All administrative departments shall finalise the process of issuance of promotion and posting/transfers orders of the promoted officers within 15 days of the receipt of Provincial Selection Board (PSB) minutes, positively. The concerned department shall be held responsible for inordinate delay leading to financial losses to the promoted officers,” says a notification issued by the provincial establishment department on September 9, 2019.

“The posting of the management cadre officers has been delayed owing to unprecedented interference of the MPAs of the ruling PTI in the affairs of education department particularly in the posting and transfer of officials,” a DEO told Dawn.

He said that actually the teachers currently serving on the management posts as DEOs had the support of PTI MPAs and the chief minister was reluctant to transfer them.

“There are 68 posts of the management cadre in the education department including 40 for male (35 DEOs and five additional directors) and 28 for female,” said the DEO. On the male side, he said, half of the posts of the management cadre were occupied by teachers since long while a few female teachers had also been working on the management cadre posts.

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2019