KARACHI, June 27: The collective bargaining agent of the defunct Karachi Development Authority has challenged the devolution of the KDA/KBCA in the Sindh High Court as a totally illegal and clandestine act of the provincial government and an attempt to deprive the employees of the KDA/KBCA of their legitimate rights.

The CBA of the KDA has filed a petition with the SHC, through Rana Azamul Hasan, advocate, seeking direction to the provincial government for protecting the rights of its workers following the dissolution of the Authority under the federal government’s devolution plan.

Under the devolution plan, the KDA was dissolved with effect from January 1, 2002 in accordance with the Sindh Local Government Ordinance (SLGO) of 2001 and its departments merged with the City District Government Karachi, and a six- month transition period ending on June 30 was fixed.

It is the petitioner’s case that there were three authorities namely the KDA, LDA and MDA, but only the KDA was devolved for reasons best known to the Sindh government, the respondent No 1, but the other two authorities, ie, the LDA and the MDA were retained as projects of the Sindh government.

Anticipating this situation, the petitioner, the General Secretary of the CBA, Muhammad Ashraf, addressed a letter to the respondent No 2 to seek guarantees and to secure the rights of the staff after devolution under the SLGO of 2001, but no reply was received.

The petitioner maintained that this clearly showed the respondent’s malafide intention and discrimination.

Through this letter the petitioner had demanded that dues of the staff regarding gratuity, CPF and pension be cleared by the KDA before transfer of the staff as there was every apprehension that they would face great difficulty in getting the same from the successor. The fate of the pensioners of the KDA should also be decided so that they might enjoy this legal right.

They had also demanded guarantees regarding protection of seniority of officers/officials besides decision of the charter of demand, etc.

It is the petitioner’s case that section 183 of sub-section (1) of the SLGO of 2001 was regarding protection of the salaries, emoluments and pensions of the transferred employees, but the same was not clear. Therefore, assurance/clarification regarding the above-mentioned demands still persisted.

They pointed out that section 183 (1) of the Ordinance said that “On allocation, re-allocation or transfer of the employees of the government, Metropolitan, Corporations, Municipal Corporation, District Councils, Municipal Committees, Town Committees and Union Councils or any other authority, agency or body to any local government established under this ordinance, the salaries, emoluments and pensions of such employees shall not be reduced on such allocation, re-allocation or transfer.”

It was their case that employees of the KDA/KBCA were subjected to discrimination by dividing the KDA/KBCA into various parts and under the control of either the provincial government or the City District Government.

They claimed that the act of the respondent with regard to devolution of the KDA/KBCA to the city government was not maintainable in the eyes of law as the KDA was established under the Presidential Order No V of 1957 and had been functioning under the control and authority of the federal government till 1962, when vide the Presidential Order No VI of 1962 the control of the KDA was transferred to the provincial government. But as per article 4 (3) of the KDA Order of 1957, the federal government was still the final authority to resolve the important issue of the entity of the KDA.

The acts of the respondents were not only illegal and contrary to law, but also in violation of the constitution which ensured fair and equal opportunity and treatment to all employees and disregard discrimination of any kind whatsoever, they claimed.

The petitioner therefore prayed for directing the respondent Nos 1 & 3 (the transition officer of the defunct KDA) to clear the dues of the staff regarding gratuity, CPF and pension and medical allowance reimbursement before their transfer to the respondent No 2.

They also sought direction for deciding the fate of the pensioners of the KDA/KBCA as their legal right, including continuance of medical facilities. They also wanted continuance of other facilities.

They also prayed for binding the respondent to protect seniority of the officers/officials and their promotions against the available vacancies.