SHAKEEL AHMAD, J. The petitioner has preferred this writ petition under Article 199 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, for the following relief: -
(a) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus to consider the correct answer of MCQ's No.39 of, the ETEA test, conducted for the post of Primary School Teacher, in accordance with the authentic Islamic Books and the act of respondents by ignoring the correct answer of the impugned MCQ's, may be set aside and the same may be declared as illegal, without lawful authority, void-ab-initio, and the same may be set aside.
(b) Issue a writ order or direction to the respondent No.4 to rectify the impugned merit list dated 21.09.2022 to the extent of petition in the interest of justice.
2. The facts, in brief, are that respondent No.4 invited applications through an advertisement dated 01.12.2021, published in daily newspaper, from the eligible candidates for appointment against the vacant posts of Male Primary School Teachers (PST), and the last date for submission of documents was 15.12.2021, which was further extended for a few days. The appointments of candidates were to be made purely on Contract/ Adhoc basis, moreover, the number of seats for District Kohat were 415, out of which 22 seats were allocated for Union Council of the petitioner; that the petitioner being eligible applied for one of the post of male Primary School Teacher (PST) and after scrutiny/short listing, he was allowed to appear in written test, conducted by ETEA, held on 24.06.2022 under Roll No.426623 at Sr. No.841623 of the paper book and he obtained 53 marks instead of 54 marks; after issuance of result, the petitioner approached to respondent No.3 for re- checking of his paper, the same was checked, the petitioner was given the marks of all the MCQ's as per paper Book "E" except the MCQ's No.39, despite giving the. correct answer of the same as given in the books of Class 6th, 7th, and Islamic History; that the petitioner approached respondent No.3, through representation dated 30.08.2022 in order to consider the marks of the correct answer of impugned MCQ's No.39, but they were reluctant to redress his genuine grievance, and issued the result of rechecking on 22.08.2022; that official respondents issued the list of selected candidates for the posts of male Primary School Teachers, wherein the petitioner appeared and qualified the interview for the said post. His name is available at Serial No.23 of the merit list/selection list dated 21.09.2021, the total score of the petitioner is 101.70 out of 200 by giving him one ETEA mark of the MCQ's No.39. he will rise to Serial No.21 of the merit list issued on 21.09.2022; that the respondents/department neither considered departmental representation supra nor redressed grievance of the petitioner, therefore, he was left with no other option but to invoke the constitutional jurisdiction of this Hon'ble Court.
3. Pursuant to the order of this Court dated 03.10.2022, the Director, Education Testing and Evaluation Agency (ETEA) put his appearance before the Court today and stated that answer to question No.39 was taken from Islamiyat (compulsory) of the 7th class, wherein, it was written as under"
While reply of the petitioner to this question was:
4. According to Director, NTS, said answer of the petitioner was incorrect, and correct answer was as recorded in the Islamiyat taught to the student of 8th Class in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
5. The present case is sensitive one involving religious feelings of the Muslims, therefore, before dilating upon the merits of the case and claim of the petitioner, we consulted different books written by known Islamic Scholars including "Tarjuman-ul-Quran", Quran-e-Kareem kay mutalib urdu zuban main Zarori Tafseer kay sath (Vol-III) written by Abul Kalam Ahmad Azad, "Maarif-ul- Quran" written by Moulana Mufti Muhammad Shafi Mufti Azam Pakistan and "Tafseer-e-Usmani", translated by Sheikh-ul-Hind Hazrat Moulana Mehmood-ul-Hassan Tafseer Sheikh-ul-Islam Hazrat Moulana Allama Shabbir Ahmad Usmani, and found that all of them are consistent and unanimous on the point that Surah "Mubeen" is a Madani Surah and was revealed upon the Holy Prophet Muhammad after execution of "Sulah Hudaibiya" (Truce of Hudaibiya).
6. This unanimous opinion and belief is based on Verse No.29, which is reproduced for ready reference as under:
7. From plain reading of the books quoted above, it has become crystal clear that Surah Mubeen was revealed, alter execution of Hudaibiya Truce and it has been called as Fatah Mubeen. At this stage, it will be appropriate to reproduce the question put to the candidates who appeared in the written test conducted by Education Testing and Evaluation Agency (ETEA) as under:
8. The correct answer to this question in our view is Sulah Hudaibiya (Hudaibiya Truce) and it was rightly answered by putting tick mark on Sulah Hudaibiya and same answer was written in Islamiyat taught to the students in 6th Class, which is reproduced as under: -
9. However, the correct answer of the petitioner was not given credit when we asked Mr. Murtaza Khan, Director, ETEA, the reason of not giving marks of his correct answer he replied that conquer of Makkah was recorded as Fatah Mubeen in the Islamiyat taught to the students of 7th Class and answer to this question had been taken from this book, therefore, his answer to this question "Sulah Hudaibiya" was declared as incorrect.
10. Pakistan is an Islamic Republic country. Provisions of Article 20 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 gives right to every citizen to profess, practice or propagate his religion and that every religious denomination and every sect thereof shall have the right to establish, maintain and manage its religious institutions. In order to encourage study of Islamic literature as a source of Islam, the prescription of Syllabus included different aspects of the Islamic religion including advent of Islam. We noticed with pen that even after 49 years of the enforcement of the Constitution of Pakistan, 1973, religious and moral education do not find its proper place in the curriculum of schools which is resulting in the youth going astray thereby increasing wrong conception in the mind of youth regarding different aspects of Islamic Religion and history. We are of the view that religious texts are not being presented correctly and the consequential action of the preachers in encouraging conversions is also telling upon the cultural civilization of this country. It is, therefore, necessary to introduce compulsory religious education in its true spirit and thereby fostering a correct approach towards religion. The incorrect and wrong religious understanding taught in the books would take the shape of general perception that the followers of Islam would fall into error, which is opposed to tenet of Islam. Preaching by way of wrong Islamic history creates difference among the believers of Islam. It is urged that the right to profess religion can be realized as a fundamental right only if the citizens are well informed and are able to learn and understand true aspects of Islamic religion and that is why it has been made obligatory for the State to include religious education at all levels.
11. The Director, Education Testing and Evaluation Agency (ETEA) and the learned AAG representing the official respondents both contended that the policy for providing the curriculum for primary and secondary schools is entrusted to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Text Book Board having teams of different subject specialists at their level for educational research. It is this body which is entrusted with the responsibility of framing curriculum and all books taught in the educational institutions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are duly approved by it. In order to groom the students comprehensively, values of religion deserve to be taught in its true perspective and sense so as to remove any misgivings about their teachings and to reveal their true religion. This would help in removing any doubt and preventing conflict of though among the people professing Islam. His trust is that the shadow of doubt would all be cleared by processing of learning and therefore, it is necessary to invoke State action to find out errors in the books and remove the same immediately.
12. Now adverting to the relief claimed by the petitioner regarding award of marks for his correct answer. We find that the petitioner has neither arrayed the candidates/selectees who would be affected if relief is granted to him nor any attempt was made by him to array them as respondents.
In our view, under these circumstances, if relief is granted to him, it would result in perpetuation of injustice, therefore, we are not inclined to grant him the relief. However, Education Testing and Evaluation Agency (ETEA) is directed to be careful in future while choosing answers from the books for award of marks to the candidates.
13. For the foregoing reasons, this petition is disposed of accordingly. revisions by the competent authorities. Therefore, it is advisable to consult the official sources or legal professionals for the most up-to-date and accurate information.