Retired teachers file appeals over Time Scale denial

Many retired principals and teachers of educational institutions run by the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) have filed representations/appeals before the Secretary, Ministry of Education and Professional Training against the denial of grant of Time Scale to them.

According to an official source, these teachers and principals are accusing the Ministry of Education and Professional Training of forfeiting their benefits unlawfully.

Retired teachers are of the view that they feel mistreated by the decision of not granting time scale from the actual date of its implementation resulting in sheer loss of legitimate and lawful financial benefits.

Majority of the retired teachers who filed representations have served the department for over 35 years. It is learnt that the cases of retirees were put forward in the meeting of the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) initially held on February 6, 2020. Certain queries were raised during the meeting and it was decided that the time scale cases will be decided in the next meeting.

Later on in response to the queries regarding retired persons cases, Deputy Secretary (Expenditure) Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training replied on March 03, "As the appointment to the up-graded post is to be made as per the civil servant APT rules 1973, cases of retired employees cannot be placed before the DPC". Consequently, their names were deleted and not presented before the meeting of DPC held on March 03, 2020.

In a formal representation, the retirees are claiming that they were eligible for the next higher time scale according to the time scale formula, but the Ministry did not consider them.

They maintained that there were many previous instances when the time scale benefits were safeguarded even after retirement. They attached previous notifications with their representations as precedent which depict that the three retired officers, Prof Azhar Bhatti, Professor Ghazala Khalid and Professor Shaheen Abdahu got the higher time scale of BPS-21 after their retirement.