LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has stayed possible termination of 18 more employees of the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) and sought replies from its vice chancellor and syndicate.

Ahmad Sheharyar and other petitioners had been working in the university on contracts of different duration since 2008 and onward. The petitioners include employees working in BPS 4 to 16, including assistants and research assistants.

Representing the petitioners, Advocate Safdar Shaheen Pirzada told the court that the respondent authorities kept extending the contracts of the petitioners on the basis of their performance with a promise to regularise their services.

He said under the law contractual employees were supposed to continue work till the appointment of regular ones.

He said the syndicate was duty-bound to address the grievance of the petitioners and regularise their services keeping in view their satisfactory performance.

The counsel pointed out that the petitioners had been performing their duties whereas their contracts stood expired months ago. He said the petitioners had serious apprehensions about their employment as the university did not extend their contracts despite being on the job.

He said the respondents committed violation of law and fundamental rights by not regularising the services of the petitioners and apparently decided to not to extend their contracts.

He asked the court to restrain the respondents from terminating contracts of the petitioners and order them to regularise their services in the interest of justice and fair play.

After hearing the arguments, the court stayed the likely termination of the petitioners’ contracts and sought replies from the respondents by Sept 24 when cases of other employees would also be heard.

Previously, the court had stayed termination of service of over a dozen lecturers, assistants and research assistants at the university.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2019