KARACHI, Aug 29: The Supreme Court decided on Wednesday to hear a case of the Urdu Dictionary Board employees in its human rights jurisdiction here on Sept 5. On a complaint moved by Ms Shamim Akhtar, an employee of the board, a bench comprising Justices Rana Bhagwandas and Mohammad Nawaz Abbasi asked Deputy Attorney-General Rizwan Ahmed Siddiqui to appear on Wednesday and issued the following direction to the finance secretary through the assistant registrar:

“From the reply submitted by Dr Rauf Parekh, Chief Editor, Urdu Dictionary Board, who has been nominated by the education division to represent it in the case, it appears that a proposal for grant of pensionary benefits to the board employees was forwarded to the finance division, which arbitrarily rejected the same like an identical proposal for the employees of the Pakistan Sports Board. The Supreme Court has already dealt with the issue in Ikram Elahi Sheikh versus Director-General, National Institute of Science and Technical Education in a 2006 case.

“In order to resolve the issue, which involves a question of public importance with reference to the enforcement of a fundamental right, Deputy Attorney-General Rizwan Ahmed Siddiqui has been asked to keep in touch with the finance secretary and assist the court on the next date of hearing. The secretary is required to depute a responsible officer (not below the rank of joint secretary) concerned with such regulations to appear and assist the DAG without fail on Sept 5.”