The Punjab Higher Education Department (HED) and the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) have been directed by the Lahore High Court (LHC) to consider the application of a transgender person to appear in the competitive examination for the position of lecturer.
The application of the transgender person, Faizullah based on gender criteria outlined by Punjab HED had been rejected by PPSC in the past.
In response, through Advocate Syed Ali Hassaan Zaidi, Faizullah filed a petition challenging an impugned order in which her application for appearance in PPSC examinations for the position of Urdu Lecturer Female (BS 17) was dismissed on the basis of a gender requirement stated by HED, that only males or females could apply for the position.
The rejection contending before the court that her Master’s degree in Urdu qualifies her for the said position, was contested by petitioner Faizullah. She also pointed out that she was presently pursuing MPhil in Urdu language.
As the hearings started on Wednesday, the attorney representing PPSC said that if the HED requires them to do so, the commission has no objection in accepting the petitioner’s application.
Later, HED’s point section officer told the court that they accepted the petitioner’s application for the role by adding her name to the category of women after the petition was disposed of by LHC Justice Faisal Zaman Khan.
