Punjab gets 50% representation in new NIRC members

Of the six new appointments, three are from Punjab

ISLAMABAD: Punjab has got a dominating position in the appointment of new members in the National Industrial Relations Commission (NIRC), which deals with industrial disputes and cases of unfair labour practices, which may give it a greater say compared to other provinces.

“The federal government has approved new nominations for posts of NIRC members. Punjab has got 50% representation with three seats whereas other provinces have got one seat each,” said a senior official of the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development while talking to The Express Tribune.



NIRC was established under Section 53 of the Industrial Relations Act (IRA) 2012. Its functions include adjudication of industrial disputes, registration of trade unions, determination of collective bargaining agents, dealing with unfair labour practices and addressing individual grievances in all four provinces as well as Islamabad Capital Territory.

The IRA provides that the commission will consist of not less than 10 full-time members including its chairman. Members will be appointed by the federal government.

The cabinet in its meeting last month was informed that at present NIRC had only three members besides its chairman whereas six posts were lying vacant.

The NIRC chairman and Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis, in line with the previous practice, proposed names for appointment as NIRC members on vacant posts for two years.

Three nominees were from Punjab and one each from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Sindh.

From Punjab, Muhammad Rashid Qamar, Muhammad Zubair Cheema and retired government officer Mukhtar were nominated.

Saleem Jan, a retired district and sessions judge, was nominated from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, advocate Muhammad Ishaque Notezai was nominated from Balochistan and advocate Fahmeeda Qadeer was nominated from Sindh.

The cabinet was informed that Law and Establishment Divisions sent a summary containing recommendations of the NIRC chairman to the prime minister for consideration.



The prime minister directed that the summary should be sent to the cabinet in accordance with the laid-down procedure, proposing a suitable panel of nominees who met the requisite criteria and also collectively met the need for diversity of experience and provincial representation.

After detailed discussions, the cabinet approved appointment of the NIRC members.

Under Section 86 of the IRA, rules for qualification of the chairman and members have been formulated which say no person will be appointed as NIRC member unless he is an officer of the federal government in basic pay scale 19, 20, 21 or 22 with a degree in law and experience of labour administration for a period not less than three years.

In case of an officer in basic pay scale 19, he will be required to have experience in this pay scale and above for a period of not less than 17 years including a three-year experience in labour administration.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10^th, 2017.

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