1997 PLP (C (PLC(CS))

Mrs. Mehjabeen petitioner was posted as the Deputy District Education Officer (W‑EE), Tehsil Multan on 4‑8‑1994 and the Education Secretary, Government of the Punjab, Education Department, Lahore vide order dated 13‑6‑1996 has passed the ‑order of her transfer who has placed her services at the disposal of the Director, Public Instructions (SE), Punjab, Lahore. In her place Mst. Mehtab Niaz Deputy District Education Officer (W‑EE), Duniapur, District Lodhran has been transferred and posted as Deputy District Education Officer (W‑EE), Tehsil Multan. Feeling aggrieved by her transfer order dated 13‑6‑1996 the petitioner has filed this writ petition to get the same set aside and quashed on the ground that the same has been passed without jurisdiction and without lawful authority. According to the petitioner Syed Nazim Ali Shah, Minister for Population Welfare, Punjab, Lahore sent one Muhammad Amin Shah to her for his appointment as Class‑IV employee whom she could not accommodate due to the ban imposed regarding fresh recruitment. She maintained that on 10‑6‑1996 she received the telephonic call from the said Minister who abused her and threatened her that he would teach her a suitable lesson. She maintained that she intimated the District Education Officer (W), Mules and sent a copy of the same to the Director (Elementary), Multan Division, Multan. She maintained that she had a family and that she would face the practical difficulties.

2. I have heard the preliminary arguments. At the very outset, would express that the Punjab Service Tribunal is not working at Lahore due to the retirement of its Chairman. The recitals of the writ petition, a gift of which has been narrated (supra), have been reiterated by the learned counsel for the petitioner. I am, however, not inclined to give any weight. A photostat of the application submitted by Muhammad Amin Shah forms part of this writ petition which contains writing dated II‑2‑1996 made by Syed Nazim Hussain, Minister for Population Welfare Punjab, Lahore that "applicant may be appointed". There is nothing in the writ petition to make out that on which date this application was submitted before the petitioner by Muhammad Amin applicant. The ban was imposed towards the fresh recruitment and this is known to everybody as muss fuss emanates in the public whereby the demand for lifting the ban is made and the same is projected in the press of the province. If there is ban the allegation made by the petitioner has failed to touch my sense of appreciations. During the ban period no body including the applicant or a Minister or any other influential person would impress upon the petitioner to recruit the applicant even though the applicant may have made the application with the aforesaid type of request for recruitment. My view is that the petitioner has simply made the futile attempt to politicise the matter to acquire the wrongful gain so that the discretion is exercised in her favour. She started her career as Secondary School Teacher and with the passage of time has risen to the rank of Deputy District Education Officer in BS‑18 (move‑over BS‑19). Now she should be prepared to serve any where in the Province being a civil servant of the Punjab Province. Her services‑ have been placed at ‑the disposal of the Director, Public Instructions (S.E.), Punjab, Lahore by the Education Secretary. She has not been posted in Lahore. Her case has to be considered by the Director, Public Instructions (S.E.) Punjab, Lahore for her fresh posting. An officer in the Grade‑18 (move‑over BS‑19) should prepare himself/herself to be posted anywhere in the Province as the transfer is an exigency of service and it is not the right of any public servant to get remain posted at a place of his/her own choice. Thus no Constitutional right of the petitioner stands infringed.

3. As a last resort it was argued by the learned counsel for the petitioner that Mst. Mehtab Niaz respondent No. 5 is not serving in the grade in which the petitioner is serving and for that reason she could not be appointed as the Deputy District Education Officer‑(W‑EE), Tehsil Multan. This is not a matter for consideration. A perusal of impugned order dated 13‑6‑1996 has made out that Mst. Mehtab Niaz respondent No. 5 was already posted and working at Duniapur, District Lodhran as Deputy District Education Officer (W‑EE). There was no contest between the petitioner and respondent No. 5 while respondent No. 5 was posted at Duniapur, District Lodhran and her transfer to Tehsil Multan in the same capacity should not be a cause of grumble to the petitioner. This is simply an irrelevant matter for the petitioner which has no legal force in her favour. Rather it is not her headache.

4. For what has been said above, I hold that there is no need to process with this writ petition which is dismissed in limine. A.A./M‑125/L Petition dismissed.