ANNUAL INCREMENTS TO UNTRAINED TEACHERS SHOULD BE GIVEN ALONG WITH THE PERMANENCE OF CONTRACT EMPLOYEES AND RE-INSTATEMENT OF DISMISSED GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES.

            The recent two measures of the Government relating to the permanence of Contract Employees and re-instatement of the dismissed employees is praised worthy but the thirst of the denial of the annual increments to the Untrained Teachers would always be felt as they are the victims of every Government and would remain so till their death despite rendering satisfactory work. The Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan has been badly eroded in their case by not treating them according to the Laws. The Fundamental Rules and Supplementary Rules framed in 1922 and adopted by the Government of Pakistan as well as by the of Government of N.W.F.P. have been outrageously bypassed in fixing the salaries of the Untrained Teachers. Their service is not counted either towards annual increments or to the Pension, which is nothing but their victimization. Denial of the annual increments is nothing but punishment and the Untrained Teachers are punished despite their satisfactory duty. Their services are verified from the office record in their Service Books and still are denied annual increment and their service is not counted for the Pension without citing any law, rule or authority. Duty under the Fundamental Rules is counted for both the annual increment and Pension but the Untrained Teacher has illegally, arbitrarily and without any warrant been kept, deprived from the operation of laws in his favour. It means the Officers are contradicting their own verification when on one side, they verify their services and on other side, they refuse the benefits of the duty/services. Either the Officers do not know the legal concept of verification or they intentionally ignore the laws in the case of Untrained Teachers.

            My contention to both the Education Department and the Government is that either his services should not be verified or he should be given his due rights according to the verified service. Acceptance of the services and denial of rights cannot go side by side and is against the spirit of law. It is similar to the case of that accused person who is acquitted by the Court from all accusation and still does not issue order for his release and keep him in the jail without specifying the limit of his stay in the jail. The department was satisfied from his service and his officers wrote satisfactory reports in the logbooks but did not compensate him according to the laws relating to his salary. If his performance was not satisfactory then why an inefficient, incompetent, unqualified and ineligible was retained in service for years or till his acquiring the professional qualification and when he got qualification then why his case was not considered according to a servant on probation under the Audit Instruction (5) [Para. 7, Chap. IV, Sec. I of Manual of Audit Instructions (Reprint)], it says that "If a probationer is confirmed at the end of a period of probation exceeding twelve months, he is entitled to claim retrospectively the increments which, but for his probation, he would have received in the ordinary course." Nowhere in the Fundamental Rules it has been given that the Untrained Teachers are not entitled to the annual increments despite working to the satisfactory of their superiors.

            Government being employer has full authority either to render permanent the Contract Employees or to re-instate the dismissed servants with back benefits despite not rendering duty for a single day. In the similar way, the Government on equitable grounds should give annual increments to the Untrained Teachers with back benefits making them on a par with those Contract and Dismissed servants who have been much favoured by the present Government both in the Centre and in the Province. The Government and Education Department cannot take refuge behind the assertion that the Untrained Teachers did not possess requisite qualification. Duty has nothing do with qualification. Duty has not been linked to the qualification in the rules relating to the Pay but the Rules about duty say that when a period is treated on duty, the incumbent is entitled to salary, allowances and annual increments. Again, the Government and the Department erred in giving salary and allowances to an untrained teacher but denied annual increment and pensionary benefits of this untrained service.

            Actually, the teachers is so depressed and helpless class of Government servants which rendered services selflessly made the nation but were not recognised and compensated properly and that is why this profession was lowered in the estimation of the society both by the Government and the Education Department.

            Every Provincial Government felt suffocation when the Federal Government did not treat it properly and did not give it the due share in the apportionment of the assets. We witnessed that the Provincial Government sued the WAPDA for its rights, raised voice for the elimination of the concurrent list in the Constitution in the National Assembly just to acquire its rights according to the Constitution. There is a famous maxim of the Equity that "He who seeks equity must do equity". The Provincial Government and Education Department should do equity to the teachers before going to the Court for own rights or asking the Federal Government in the National Assembly to abolish the concurrent list in the Constitution in order to enable itself to get its due share or to have control on the resources of the Province.

            The Teaching Community would effectively include its voice in the voice of the Provincial Government for having control on the resources of the Province if it fulfilled its demand of annual increment for the Untrained Teachers along with the back benefits from the date of their appointment. The Teaching Community would always remember the favour, kindness of the present Government if their rights were given without any more agony or struggle like those of the Contract or Dismissed Servants.