ISLAMABAD, Jan 24: The Implementation Tribunal for Newspaper Employees has asked 53 employees of defunct English daily The Muslim to file their claims of dues worth Rs8.4 million in the Banking Court through which a plot in Islamabad owned by the newspaper management is being sold. The employees have been denied dues for about a decade.

ITNE Chairman Justice (retd) Mansoor Ahmed in a two-page order said the Islamabad Publications, the owner of The Muslim, owned the plot in Sector G-7/1, which was being sold under the Financial Institutions (Recovery of Finances) Ordinance, 2001, by the decree-holder — Habib Bank Limited.

“The representatives of employees submitted that wages of the workers are preferential charge and after sale of the plot nothing will be left to seek recovery of the amount found due,” the judge observed, adding that a copy of the order should be sent to the banking court for ensuring that the dues were dealt with in accordance with the law in the event of any sale of the property.

At the time when the newspaper finally went out of print on Nov 26, 1998, its management had accrued 10 months’ dues it owed to the workers. The employees were later laid off.

Out of over 150 sacked employees, 53 filed their claims of dues in the ITNE.