THE Karachi bench of the National Industrial Relations Commission (NIRC) is currently functioning with only one presiding officer, resulting in significant delays in the adjudication of grievance applications filed by low-paid workers. Hearings are typically adjourned for periods of at least four months, causing considerable hardship to the affected workers.

Presently, more than 2,000 grievance applications are reportedly pending before the NIRC, Karachi. Additionally, there is no effective system in place to notify lawyers and litigants about the scheduling or adjournment of cases via email or WhatsApp.

As a result of this, low-income workers, especially those who have to travel from Hyderabad and other parts of Sindh, often face embarrassing and frustrating situations when they arrive in Karachi only to find that the hearing of their cases has been postponed.

These completely unnecessary journeys also impose a heavy financial burden on workers who are already struggling to make ends meet.

Given this situation, there is a pressing need to put in place a separate NIRC bench in Hyderabad to hear cases from Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas and Nawabshah regions. Such a measure would significantly reduce the suffering of workers, and make the judicial process more accessible.

Until a permanent bench in Hyderabad is established, at least three-day sittings of a single bench should be held in the city, following the example of the Sindh Labour Appellate Tribunal and the Sindh Services Tribunal, both of which conduct thrice-weekly sittings in Hyderabad.

Tariq Majeed
Hyderabad

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2025