October 23, 2007	Tuesday	Shawwal 10, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Oct 22: The Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi Bench on Monday restrained the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) from taking any action against some of its staffers, who had petitioned against fears of their dismissal allegedly as part of Federal Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan’s electioneering campaign.

Holding a short hearing in four similar petitions, Justice Syed Sajjad Hussain Shah transferred the pleas to the court of Justice Abdul Shakoor Paracha as his court had also been moved on the same issue through similar number of petitions.

Justice Shah ordered the OPF managing director and the Ministry of Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis secretary not to take any decision with regard to the petitioners until the LHC ruled in favour of against them.

Being a senior judge, Justice Paracha will take up the identical petitions on October 30.

About 277 OPF employees, including teaching and non-teaching staff, had filed eight separate petitions before the courts of Justice Sajjad Hussain Shah and Abdul Shakoor Paracha seeking justice.

The petitioners, in their pleas, have argued that “mala fide intentions” of the OPF administration had put the services of more than 200 employees of OPF girls college at stake.

These employees have been working on their respective posts for the last 3 to 15 years, but instead of regularising their services they are being asked to apply afresh for the same posts.

They alleged that all this was being done in order to pave the way for the favourites of Federal Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis Ghulam Sarwar Khan.

The petitioners claimed that the move concerning reappointments was politically-motivated, as the minister wanted to induct people from his constituency in order to gain their support in the forthcoming general elections.

“This is part of electioneering campaign because the issue has been raised when the elections are just round the corner,” the affected employees said in their petition. They said they were being subjected to discrimination.

The petitioners pleaded that since they had been working on these posts for as long as 15 years they had become overaged and not eligible to apply for a post in any other organisation.

They dismissed the claims of the OPF administration that the recruitment process was being undertaken to improve the college’s performance. How is it possible that an employee who has been working on a post for 15 years is not qualified for the job, they asked.

“This is just an excuse and the purpose is to recruit the party supporters of Ghulam Sarwar Khan in order to increase the vote bank of the federal minister in the next general elections,” the petitioners noted.