' GUL MUHAMMAD KHAN, C. J.-This Shariat Petition has been filed to challenge the proviso to paragraph 4(1) of the Punjab Nationalized Schools (Men and Womens Section) Teaching Posts Rules, 1974. It reads as under :- "Any person who was in the service of a nationalized school on or before the 14th of March, 1972 and continued in such service till 31st of August, 1972 was below the age of 58 years on the later date and is a citizen of Pakistan possessing the qualifications and other conditions of eligibility prescribed by Government for the teachers of the schools maintained by it, shall be deemed to have been appointed, to the post, other than the post of Headmaster or Headmistress of a High School, which he was holding at the time of the nationalization of the school: ' Provided that a person holding the post of Headmaster or Headmistress of a High School at the time of nationalization of the school, and possessing the qualification prescribed for the post of Senior English Teacher shall be deemed to have been appointed as Senior English Teacher and the posts of Headmasters or Headmistresses shall be filled in accordance with these rules."
2. It is contended that as some of the persons were functioning and exercising power as Headmasters, at the time of taking over of the private schools, their demotion to other posts and refusal to take them as Headmasters is un.Islamic as it contravenes the principle of equality before law. The learned counsel has referred for comparison, to the West Pakistan Education Service (Class-II-Administrative Branch) (Men's Section) Rules, 1963 and states that as the Headmasters of the High Schools and some others enjoyed separate cadres, the incumbents of the takenover schools should have also been given a similar status.
3. The learned counsel, however, agrees that even the Headmasters of the Nationalized Schools have to be promoted or appointed from the teachers of the Nationalized Schools and that none in the present case, of that category stands excluded from either appointment or promotion. Thus, if the Headmasters of both the categories have to be either promoted or appointed under similar rules, there is no discrimination or inequity and the plea raised has no merit.
4. The contention, that the persons, who were already working as Headmasters before nationalization came in, should have been allowed to continue has nothing to do with the Sharia rules of equality. It may be appreciated that if the plea of the petitioners is to be accepted even an illiterate investor, who may have been performing the functions of a Headmaster of his school before nationalization, would become entitled to appointment as a Headmaster in the new system.
Again, it is neither just nor fair that all the Headmasters whether belonging to a small or a large, important or an unimportant, good or a bad school or even less qualified, highly qualified and unqualified be placed at the same level and given equal status and opportunity in the new system.
5. The learned counsel has not been able to point out a single exception where the Rules of the Nationalized Schools might have deprived any one teacher of his rights. It means that the equality has been maintained amongst all the teachers, who were employees of the taken over schools on the basis of their qualifications. In this view of the matter, there is no merit in this petition and it is dismissed accordingly.