SC, court orders reinstatement of 36 teachers over use of 'hallucinatory' AI

The Supreme Court has ordered the immediate reinstatement of 36 secondary school teachers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, while expressing concern that the provincial servitude tribunal may have used “hallucinatory” AI to create false legal citations.

The judgment, handed down by a bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi, Justice Mohammad Shafi Siddiqui and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, overturned a consolidated judgment dated July 14, 2025, by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Service Tribunal (KP-ST), which upheld the teachers' dismissal.

The KP of the Directorate of Primary and Secondary Education (DESE) had repeatedly sought suspension of the 36 petitioners, most of whom were appointed or regularized around 2012-2013, on the grounds that the original appointment orders were false.

Procedural deficiencies and lack of evidence

The Supreme Court (SC) held that DESE violated mandatory due process requirements. The teachers were reinstated in the early stages of a protracted lawsuit and their status as public servants was confirmed. Therefore, penalties for misconduct, such as dismissal based on suspicion of misconduct, had to be strictly in accordance with the KP Civil Service (Efficiency and Discipline) Regulations, 2011 (KPEDR, 2011).

The court found that the investigation conducted by the Directorate was merely a “fact-finding” and was an insufficient substitute for the formal departmental investigation mandated by KPEDR in 2011.

Importantly, the SC emphasized that the internal investigation report on which the department based its dismissal did not in fact conclude that the appellant's appointment was illegal or that the teacher himself had committed fraud. Indeed, the report expressed strong disapproval of DESE's conduct, noting that the charges of bogus Public Service Commission (KP-PSC) recommendations were “not specific” and did not indicate “lapse or perpetration of fraud by the appellants.”

Nevertheless, KP-ST upheld the dismissal, resulting in the termination of the teacher's service.

“Illusion” AI

The SC expressed “regret” that KP-ST had relied on several non-existent legal citations in reaching the conclusion that the appointment was invalid ab initio.

The judgment said that the investigation conducted by both the citation and the case title confirmed that the case referred to by the court was fabricated. The SC suggested that KP-ST relies on artificial intelligence and that it may have been “hallucinated” in generating the citations, reiterating its earlier warnings about the use of AI in judicial decisions.

The court directed that the petitioners be reinstated. While allowing DESE to conduct new investigations, it mandated that such measures must be taken in strict accordance with the 2011 KPEDR.