ISLAMABAD: The high court on Thursday okayed the regularisation of some 150,000 federal government employees who were engaged on contract after a two-member division bench set aside a previous single bench ruling.

On May 29, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui had declared the recommendations, issued by a sub-committee during the PPP tenure, for the regularisation of the contractually-employed and daily-wage employees ‘null & void’.

Justice Siddiqui had directed all institutions and organisations of the federal government to properly examine and verify the record of regularised employees and only endorse the regularisation of those who fulfilled the criteria in respect of their educational qualifications, experience, age and domicile.

More than 100 employees of different federal government departments had filed an intera court appeal (ICA) against the judgment, which was accepted on Thursday. The ICA challenged the single bench order and on June 16, 2014 an Islamabad High Court division bench had suspended the May 29 judgment.

The previous PPP government had constituted a cabinet sub-committee to regularise the services of contractually-employed officials who were serving in different ministries and departments of the federal government.

Soon after assuming office in 2008, former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani had announced the government’s decision to regularise the services of contractual employees. As per government policy, employees working in different government offices were entitled to regularisation after completing one year’s service. PPP leader Syed Khursheed Shah headed the cabinet sub-committee in question.

The IHC division bench, in its judgment on Thursday, observed that the services of an employee could only be terminated due to the reasons of misconduct or for possessing a fake degree after completing all the legal formalities.

The bench disposed of the matter after the Cabinet Division informed it a committee had been formed to examine the cases forwarded to it for regularisation. Any federal government department could forward cases to them and this committee would make a final decision on these cases.

During the last hearing held on March 19, Additional Cabinet Secretary Khusro Pervez had told the court that the federal government that the committee will not only examine cases of contractual and daily wage federal government employees, but will also examine irregularities in the process.

Through their counsel Raja Amir Abbas Hassan, the petitioners adopted the stance that the single bench order did not give independent reasons or assessed the arguments of the parties involved.

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2015

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