ISLAMABAD, March 16: The Supreme Court has summoned a comprehensive report from the chairman of Implementation Tribunal for Newspaper Employees for failure to implement the court's Oct 19, 2011, decision in favour of the 7th Wage Board Award for newspaper employees.

A two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and Justice Tariq Parvez, which had taken up a human rights case on a letter by All Pakistan Newspaper Employees Confederation chairman Shafiuddin Ashraf, ordered ITNE chairman Nasir Hussain on Friday to expedite the matter pending before him and submit a comprehensive report on March 21.

The report should also explain why the chairman has failed to implement the court order when there is no stay in place.

On Oct 19 last year, the court had held that the Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) Act of 1973 was not against the Constitution and that the Oct 2001 Seventh Wage Board Award would continue to hold the field.

On Friday, the court also ordered repeating notices to the petitioners who had challenged the act when it was informed that despite notices none had appeared.

Advocate Akram Sheikh, who had earlier represented newspaper workers, argued that the ITNE chairman was adjourning the matter because of the review petitions pending before the Supreme Court against its Oct 19 verdict.

Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) president Pervaiz Shaukat accused the newspaper owners of not complying with the court verdict.

In his letter, Shafiuddin Ashraf had drawn the attention of the chief justice towards the non-payment of dues in accordance with the 7th Wage Award on the pretext that the review petitions had been filed before the court.

“It is a matter of grave concern that thousands of newspaper employees and their families have been suffering immensely since July 2000 because of non-implementation of the award,” the letter added.