April 1, 2003	Tuesday	Muharram 28, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, March 31: The Supreme Court will take up the constitutional petition of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society, challenging the Seventh Wage Award for journalists and newspaper employees, on Tuesday.

The case, which was fixed for hearing on three occasions in the past, was adjourned due to the absence of Barrister Abdul Hafiz Pirzada as he had gone out of the country for treatment. The counsel is back and would appear on Tuesday.

The SC bench will consist of Chief Justice Shaikh Riaz Ahmad, Mian Mohammad Ajmal and Justice Mohammad Nawaz Abbasi.

The stage is set for preliminary hearing of the case as notice to the Attorney-General has already been issued.

Prominent counsel Abid Hasan Minto and Akram Sheikh would represent journalists and workers.

The counsel for the petitioner association would first try to persuade the court that petition under Article 184(3) of the Constitution could be filed in the Supreme Court. The petition was originally returned by the Registrar of the Supreme Court on the ground that it did not involve any matter of public importance.

The petitioner association has approached the Supreme Court on the ground that fixing of its staff salary without its consent was violation of its fundamental rights, guaranteed under the Constitution.

The petitioner association has also questioned the classification of other employees of newspaper establishments along with the working journalists and termed it “patently discriminatory and unreasonable.”

The petitioner stated that even if it was accepted that the legislature was competent to enact the Act there was no justification for extending its application to non journalists.