Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah of the Supreme Court (SC) has observed in a recent judgement that an employee’s pension is not a matter of bounty, charity, or benevolence but a right protected under Articles 9 and 14 of the Constitution.

Article 9 entails that no person shall be deprived of life or liberty save in accordance with the law, while Article 14 protects the dignity of a person.

He made the remarks while hearing a petition filed by Shakeel Ahmed Kayani challenging an Islamabad High Court judgment (IHC) dated February 2, 2022, which had dismissed his plea seeking entitlement to an additional pension. The SC heard the case on Sept 17, 2025, while the order of the judgement was released this week.

“[Pension] is inseparably linked with the right to life, dignity and livelihood, for without sustenance in old age, these rights ring hollow,” Justice Shah observed in his judgement.

According to the order, a copy of which was made available to Dawn.com today, the petitioner joined the erstwhile Oil and Gas Development Corporation established under the Oil and Gas Development Corporation Ordinance, 1961, as accounts assistant (BPS-14) on Feb 2, 1995, after earlier serving with the Pakistan Military Accounts Department Office, Wah Cantt.

During his service, the Oil and Gas Development Corporation (Reorganisation) Ordinance, 2001, was promulgated, converting the Corporation into the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited. The petitioner, by operation of law, became an employee of the company and retired as a senior accountant (E-04) on June 17, 2021, after rendering a total service of 40 years and 10 months.

The petitioner’s lawyer had argued that his client was entitled to an additional pension under Regulation 15(1A) since, as a former OGDC employee, his service terms were protected by the 2001 Ordinance. He maintained that federal government directives, such as the 2001 Finance Division memorandum discontinuing additional pensions, cannot override this statutory protection. Citing company letters from 2005 and 2010, he added that OGDC staff were not civil servants but employees of an autonomous body governed by its own regulations.

The company rejected the petitioner’s claim through an office memorandum issued on August 20, 2021. The petitioner then challenged this decision in the IHC, which dismissed the case on February 2, 2022, leading to the filing of the present petition.

In his judgement, Justice Shah added that pensions should be taken more seriously for those public servants for whom it was “a crystallised return on years of faithful service, a form of deferred wages earned through the sweat, labour, and loyalty of an employee.”

He went on to say that the concept of pension embodied the principle that those who serve must not be cast aside in their twilight years.

“To deny or withhold pension is to strip a person of the security they have justly earned, leaving them exposed to indignity, vulnerability, and want. Therefore, this right must be protected in the shape of a grant of pension that is not only adequate but also predictable.”

He further said that an element of respect and empathy is to be maintained while granting pension, which would “be in consonance with the values that Pakistan’s Constitution espouses with dignity as the highest constitutional value”.

Concluding the judgement, the judge stated in the order: “For the above reasons, we set aside the impugned judgement and declare that the petitioner is entitled to Additional Pension under Section 5 of the Ordinance, 2001 read with Regulation 15(1A) of the Pension Regulations with the direction to the Company to pay the Additional Pension to the petitioner in accordance with the Pension Regulations within 30 days from the receipt of this judgement and submit a compliance report to the Registrar of this Court.

“In case the compliance report is not received by the first week of November 2025, the case will be put up on the judicial side for necessary orders.”