PHC sets aside termination order of RLCIP workers

Petitioner’s lawyer said project management unit had to give 30 days prior notice.

The Peshawar High Court has set aside a decree terminating Rural Livelihood and Community Infrastructure Project (RLCIP) workers since the order was issued by the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) Secretariat in violation of a contract.

A division bench headed by Justice Qaiser Rasheed issued the order on Monday on a writ petition filed by Adnan Khan and other employees of the Fata Secretariat through their attorney Asif Yousafzai.

The court ordered that the employees would be retained till completion of the project and serve on their respective posts even if the government extends the project after March 31, 2017.

When the hearing commenced, Yousafzai argued that the government had started the Multi-Donor Trust Fund-sponsored RLCIP through the World Bank for the betterment of certain areas of Fata. The petitioners were working against different posts under the project whose contract periods were extended from time to time and the last extension was given till March 31, 2017.

“Under the contract, the project management unit has to give 30 days prior notice for termination of the contract but in this case the party has not given prior notice because the project was in the field and its life extended till 2018,” he argued.

He stated that the director general of projects wrote to the secretary of Economic Affairs Division to relieve the present project staff and appoint new staff.

“The DG after three days of the letter issued a notification informing the staff that their contracts would not be renewed beyond December 31, 2016,” he argued.

The petitioners’ counsel contended that the respondents had violated the clause of the contract by virtue of which the respondents were under legal obligation to give a one-month notice, proving that the action was based on mala fide intentions.

He contended that the termination of the staff’s contract was illegal and appealed to the bench to set it aside. The bench after hearing the arguments of petitioners and respondents’ counsels accepted the formers’ plea and set aside the termination order.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2017.