The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday suspended transfer orders of a handicapped deputy headmistress of the Government MC Girls High School Kamoki and directed school secretary to decide issue on humanitarian grounds. While hearing the case Justice Farrukh Arfan Khan observed that women, especially those handicapped, should not be posted away from their residence. The order came on petition filed by Anis Bano, the deputy headmistress who challenged her transfer from Government MC Girls High School Kamoki to a high school of Lallupur.
The petitioner contended that her left leg was flawed which made it hard for her to move much in daily life and her transfer to a far off high School had made it hard to continue her service. She said her transfer from Kamoki to Lallupur was a violation of rights of the handicapped and that of the government policy that disallows women’s transfers and posting at afar places. The petitioner through her advocate Rana Mazhar Hussain pleaded that the secretary had transferred her unlawfully and therefore, that order should have been set aside and she should be allowed to work at the her current place at Kamoki. For a physically challenged person it was nearly impossible to serve at Lallupur because of the transport problem and shabby condition of roads, he added.
After hearing arguments and seeing the condition of the handicapped headmistress Justice Arfan suspended the transfer order and directed the secretary to allow her to serve in the same school of Kamoki for one month. The judge ordered the secretary to decide the matter in a period of 30 days. In the meantime, the Lahore High Court also suspended transfer orders of deputy headmistress of FD High School for Girls Gujranwala considering humanitarian ground of old age; her being single, unmarried. Deputy headmistress Zakia Zaib-u- Nisa, aged 56, filed a petition in LHC challenging her transfer from Gujranwala to a high school of Hafizabad. She said that since she was single it would be mentally disturbing to serve any city other than her home town, Gujranwala, where many of her relatives resided to be with her in moments of illness and distress.
