ISLAMABAD, June 14: The Federal Services Tribunal (FST) on Wednesday directed Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to settle the issue of payment of dues to its retired employees by July 26 and submit a compliance report to the court.

The tribunal, comprising Ch Ilyas and Abdul Hafiz Mirza, dismissed as insufficient the compliance report presented by the airline with respect to the case filed by Ismail Naqvi and 237 other retired employees of the airline seeking payment of leave encashment and increments from the date of mandatory retirement to the actual age of superannuation.

The case had earlier been decided in favour of the petitioners on February 28, 2004. However, the petitioners were seeking implementation of the decision since then.

The counsel for the respondents, Javed Altaf, told the tribunal that the petitioners had been called for personal hearing for settlement of their accounts.

However, the tribunal observed that this wasn’t a case of personal hearing and that the petitioners should be associated with the reconciliation exercise.

After arguments, it was decided that the counsel for the petitioners, Ramzan Khan, would represent all the 238 petitioners in the reconciliation so that the matter was resolved without any further delay.

The airline was instructed to fix a date with the counsel to settle the dispute. The compliance report has to be submitted on July 26.