LAHORE, Dec 4: The PIA decided on Tuesday to withdraw a termination of service orders issued to an employee working for it by a labour contractor in violation of a court order.

Saleem Akhtar and 27 other reservation and ticketing assistants had approached the Lahore High Court through Advocate M.A Ghani Chaudhry for their absorption as regular employees of the airline. They said while they worked for the airline, they had been hired by the contractor and were paid by him much less than the regular PIA employee doing the same kind of work. In an earlier case, the court had ordered the regularization of such employees and the same law be applied to them.

Justice Jamshed Ali Shah, who heard the petition, admitted it to regular hearing in January and ordered that status quo be maintained in the meanwhile. However, Saleem Akhtar was dismissed in February. The lawyer moved a contempt petition against the PIA officials concerned. The notice was ignored until the court gave them a last opportunity on Dec 4.

The officials appeared on Tuesday and assured the court the dismissal order would be rescinded. The petitioner did not press his contempt charge. Meanwhile, the main petition and other contempt petitions alleging that the airline had yet to implement the regularization order passed by the court would proceed in due course.