LAHORE, May 5: The pending cases before labour courts in Lahore have gone up drastically after the Supreme Court decided that the employees of autonomous bodies, corporations and organisations will not be able to seek remedy in matters pertaining to their service from the Federal Service Tribunal (FST).

Some 1,700 cases are pending with labour courts, which are required, under the law, to dispense with a case in seven days. After the retirement of the presiding officer of the labour court No. 2, it did not hold any proceeding since April 4, 2008.

Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) member Pervaiz Inayat Malik said: “The pending cases are a reality and need drastic changes in the law with their implementation in letter and spirit.”

He said earlier top judges were appointed as presiding officers of these courts to provide relief to workers.

“It’s simply amazing to go through their judgments. And look what is happening now. The delay in disposal of cases have made these courts look like civil courts.”

He agreed that the SC verdict, under which section 2-A of the Service Tribunal Act (STA) of 1973 was struck down for being in conflict with the Constitution in 2006, added to the workload of the labour courts.

The legislature introduced section 2-A in the STA in 1997, bringing in its scope the federal government's employees being governed by their statutes. Mr Malik said these workers used to take their grievances to labour courts, which were inclined to provide relief to the litigants.

He said where the workers suffered setback in the shape of expensive litigation, the supervisory and the administrative staff, who earlier did not have a forum for remedying their grievances, got a platform in the form of the FST.

In 2006, the SC declared section 2-A in conflict with article s240, 260 and 212 of the Constitution, he said.

“The cases of employees under section 2-A, STA, 1973, who do not fall within the definition of civil servant as defined in section 2 (1) (B) of CSA, shall have no remedy from the service tribunal, functional under article 212 of the Constitution and they will be free to avail appropriate remedy.”

With the decision, the cases pertaining to the matters of service of employees of country-wide Utility Stores Corporation (USC), PIA, SNGPL, Wapda and other such bodies, shifted back to the labour courts, he said.

A USC area manager expelled from service without assignment of any reason in November 2000, had to transfer his case from the FST to the labour court, Lahore, as a result of the SC decision. He said in 2004, the FST on the appeal of the USC employees reinstated several staffers.

He said the USC moved the SC against the FST decision of restoring the removed employees.

He said the tribunal adjourned his case to see the outcome of the SC decision on the USC plea against the removed employees.

He said the SC dismissed the USC appeal in 2005 and upheld the decision of the tribunal. He said thereafter the tribunal reserved verdict in his case, and did not announce it for the next seven months.

He said he had to take his case to the labour court in 2006 when the SC declared section 2-A unconstitutional.