SHAHID WAHEED, J. The petitioner was recruited to the post of Lecturer (Deaf Field) (BS-17) on contract basis for a period of 5 years in the Punjab Special Education Department, Government of the Punjab vide letter dated 18th of October, 2016. During service, disciplinary proceedings under the provisions of the Punjab Employees Efficiency, Discipline and Accountability Act, 2006 were initiated against him on the following charges: " (i). The accused officer was illegally living in a room of the Centre without getting deduction of house rent allowance and conveyance allowance from the concerned District Accounts Office, causing pecuniary loss to the Government exchequer.
(ii). The accused officer failed to perform his duties honestly and indulged himself in depraved, obnoxious and salacious activities. He is in the habit of molesting the female - teachers by blackmailing them, forcefully inducing them to have illicit relations with him and threatening them of dire consequences, which resulted in affecting the atmosphere of the Institution badly."
2. The Inquiry Committee examined the above-stated charges and found the petitioner guilty on the basis of following findings: "16. FINDINGS REGARDING CHARGE No.1 of Mr. KAMRAN KHAN, SPEECH THERAPIST (BS-17): On examining the relevant record, statements of concerned staff Departmental Representative and outcome of personal hearing, the Inquiry Committee find that the stance of accused officer is totally baseless that he was living in a rented house. The accused officer failed to produce any document regarding the rent deed. In this connection, the statements of school staff and District Education Officer (SE) Faisalabad evidently show that Mr. Kamran Khan, Speech Therapist had been residing in the said Institute w.e.f 13.04.2014 to 20.10.2016 and getting all benefits with the approval of Mrs. Shazia Iqbal, Headmistress (BS-17), Govt. Special Education Center Lailpur Town, Faisalabad and caused loss to the Government exchequer. If the staff ever tried to pinpoint this issue, they were threatened by the accused officers with the reply "mind your own business". Even otherwise, the concerned Headmistress has no authority to grant such permission to the accused officer for living in the Institute except Chowkidar. Hence, it is concluded that the charge stands fully proved against the accused officer.
17. FINDINGS REGARDING CHARGE NO.2 OF MR. KAMRAN KHAN, SPEECH THERAPIST (BS-17)
On examining the relevant record, statements of concerned staff Departmental Representative and outcome of personal hearing, the Inquiry Committee find that the accused officer never accomplished his duties being a Speech Therapist. Parents of the students complained so many times about his negligence but all in vain. The accused officer is a contract employee and he is being paid by the Government for his services of Speech Therapy to the special students but he did not perform his duties honestly, diligently and efficiently. On the contrary, he kept teaching the private students in the Institute for personal gains, which is a sheer violation of his contract appointment/job description. Moreover, he used absurd language with the female teacher and they complained time and again but Mrs. Shazia Iqbal, Headmistress did nothing. The accused officer used to the authoritative, used slang language and gazing the female teachers. In particular, Ms. Sadaf Arbab, JSET, was teased by the accused officer and blackmailed for ulterior motives. She had to face life threats and she was also harassed many a time. He used to sit in his class room without any reason. She was under stress due to his immoral activity, because of this, she became victim of mental torture and she stopped coming to the school. Apart from this CCTV Cameras were in the custody of Mr. Kamran Khan, Speech Therapist and he blackmailed female teachers. It is absolutely correct that the accused officer failed to perform his duties honestly and indulged himself in depraved, obnoxious and salacious activities. He is in the habit of molesting the female teachers by blackmailing them forcefully inducing them to have illicit relations with him and threatened them of dire consequences, which resulted in affecting the atmosphere of the Institution badly. Hence, it is concluded that the charge stands fully proved against the accused officer. Besides this, the accused officer never accomplished his, assignment/task of Speech therapy to the special students for which he was paid by the Government. Depriving the special students of their fundamental right of education is nothing short of being callous and inhuman, hence, the accused officer does not deserve to be treated leniently."
3. Upon receiving the Inquiry report, the Competent Authority re-examined the matter and found as follows: "AND WHEREAS, after consulting the relevant 'record, Inquiry Report, recommendations of the Inquiry Officer and outcome of the personal hearing, the undersigned finds that the charges against Mr. Kamran, Speech Therapist (BS-17) stand fully proved that the recommendations of the Inquiry Committee are also commensurate with the quantum of his guilt. However, in the matter of Mrs. Shazia Iqbal Headmistress (BS-17+10% Special Pay)/Co-accused, the penalty recommended by the Inquiry Committee is not according to the gravity of her guilt because she extended her full cooperation assistance to the accused officer regarding living in the Institute illegally and molesting the female teachers. The accused officer had no authority to grant permission to Mr. Kamran Khan, Speech Therapist (BS-1 7) to liv in the institute illegally w.e.f.
13.04.2014 to 20.10.2016 and get all the benefits including conveyance allowance and house rent which amounts to Rs.285,2 78/- Mr. Kamran Khan, Speech Therapist (BS-1 7) illegally and unlawfully kept on drawing conveyance and house rent with the connivance of Mrs. Shazia Iqbal, Headmistress (BS-17+ 10% Special Pay) and caused loss to the Government exchequer. Apart from this, it was with the cooperation of accused officer that Mr. Kamran Khan used to be authoritative and used abusive language with the female staff in the presence of Headmistress/co-accused.
Ms. Sadaf Arbab, in particular, was sexually teased/harassed by Mr. Kamran Khan and blackmailed. The said lady teacher had to face life threats by Mr. Kamran Khan. He used to sit in her class without any reason with the consent of Headmistress/co-accused. She was so under stress due to his immoral activities that she became victim of mental torture and she stopped coming to the institution. It is pertinent to mention here that at the time of surprise visit paid by the Additional Secretary, Special Education Department and Deputy Director (Curriculum).
Directorate of Special Education Punjab. Lahore on 19.10.2016 at about 10:25 P.M. Ms. Sadaf Arbab, JSET was found absent from her duties for the last ten days but the concerned Headmistress /co- accused did not report the high-ups about her absence except marking her absence in the attendance register. This clearly transpires that it was in the knowledge of co-accused that Mr. Kamran Khan was molesting Ms. Sadaf Arbab, JSET which resulted in her absence from school Apart from this, the co-accused put the CCTV cameras in the custody of Mr. Kamran Khan, Speech Therapist who used to keep an eye on the female staff with the help of CCTV. Cameras.
Above all, the co-accused allowed the accused officer Mr. Kamran Khan, Speech Therapist (BS-17) to take the classes of Speech Therapy, to the private students in the Institute for personal gains instead of special students of school. Mr. Kamran Khan never accomplished his duties as a Speech Therapist and failed to perform his duties honestly, diligently and efficiency. In this regard the parents of students as well as staff of Institution complained time and again to the co- accused regarding poor performance of Mr. Kamran Khan, Speech Therapist but the co-accused, being in league with him neither took any action nor recommend any proceedings against him to the high-ups. Thus, Mr. Kamran Khan, Speech Therapist deprived the special students of their legal right of speech therapy /education with the complete cooperation/assistance/help of co- accused. Depriving the special students of their legitimate right of education is nothing short of being cold, brutal and ruthless. Moreover, molesting the female staff in the premises of Institution by Mr. Kamran Khan, Speech Therapist with the cooperation of co-accused is also a grave offence. Hence, the co-accused is equally responsible for the ill-happening committed by Mr. Kamran Khan, Speech Therapist and his non-performance of duties as Speech Therapist. It is concluded that the co-accused being the Incharge and Supervisory officer, failed to perform her duties efficiently and diligently and committed grave negligence and inefficiency and resultantly Mr. Kamran Khan was used to molesting the female teacher by blackmailing them forcefully indulging them to have illicit relations with him and threatening them of dire consequences, which affected the atmosphere of the institution badly and resultantly the Institution became inconducive for imparting education to the special students. Hence there is no room for any leniency and both the accused officers deserve to be treated harshly. Therefore, the penalty recommended by the Inquiry Committee to the extent of co-accused is hereby enhanced".
4. On the basis of above cited findings, the Competent Authority through its order dated 19th of January, 2017 not only imposed upon the petitioner major penalty of dismissal from service but also directed to recover from him an amount of Rs.285,278/- on account of pecuniary loss caused to the Government Exchequer. The petitioner thereupon made departmental appeal before the Chief Secretary, Punjab. On the direction of this Court, issued through order dated 3rd of February, 2017 in Writ Petition No.3230 of 2017, the departmental appeal was heard and declined vide order dated 22nd of April, 2017 by the Appellate Authority/Chief Secretary.
5. The petitioner through the present petition seeks an order in the nature of writ of certiorari for quashing the punishment order on the ground of mis-application of law and also misreading of record.
6. After hearing, I am not inclined to grant the prayer made in this petition on two grounds. First, through letter dated 18th of October, 2016 the petitioner was appointed to the post of lecturer on contract basis for a period five years, which has expired in the year 2021. Since the period of contract has expired, indulgence in the matter is uncalled for. Second, the Hon'ble Supreme Court of Pakistan in its various pronouncements has settled the law that a contract employee is debarred from approaching the High Court in its constitutional jurisdiction. The only remedy available to a contract employee is to file a suit for damages alleging breach of contract. If any reference in this context is required, the case of "Qazi Munir Ahmed v. Rawalpindi Medical College and Allied Hospital through Principal and others" (2019 SCMR 648) may be cited.
7. Dismissed.