ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development on Wednesday took serious notice of slow disposal of cases by National Industrial Relations Commission (NIRC).

The committee chaired by Aamir Ali Khan Magsi also instructed the commission to fill the vacant posts of its members and dispose of the cases at the earliest.

NIRC is responsible for regulating relations between employers and labourers. It also settles dispute between them.

Registrar NIRC Ghulam Nabi, while briefing the committee members, said as many as 6,862 cases, including industrial disputes, appeals and unfair labour practices, were pending with the commission.

MNAs say litigation affects performance of industry

Mr Nabi further told the meeting that out of a total of 10 seats of members/judges in the NIRC, four had been appointed a few months ago while the remaining were lying vacant.

“We deal with the cases of industries located in the federal capital and the ones having offices in more than one province,” he said, adding that despite huge workload, the NIRC was trying to dispose of cases on urgent basis.

Rana Mohammad Afzal Khan from the PML-N said litigations affected performance of industries.

“There are disputes among different groups of labourers which led to strikes in industries. Moreover, because of litigation both owner and labourers faced problems. NIRC should expedite cases so that the performance of industry improves,” he said.

Rana Afzal also raised the issue of labour colonies and suggested that Secretary Workers Welfare Fund (WWF) should take steps in this regard.

“In every city more than one labour colony is announced in which people invest their money but development works of those colonies are delayed.

According to rules of the labour department, plots cannot be transferred until house is constructed on it. So most labourers sell their plots through agreements and ultimately litigation starts,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2014