IHC restrains ministries from recruiting fresh employees

Suspends all advertisements till the next date of hearing

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday restrained the Ministry of Climate Change and the Ministry of Interior from recruiting fresh contractual and daily wage employees and issued notices to their secretaries on a petition seeking regularisation of such employees already serving the ministries.

The IHC judge Mohsin Akhtar Kayani also suspended all advertisements issued for these hiring till the next date of hearing and directed the ministries to submit a reply in the case.

Earlier, several employees from the two ministries through their counsel, Raja Saifur Rehman, told the court that in 2011, the cabinet sub-committee for regularisation was formed and respective departments were offered to send names of those employees, who had completed one-year service against contractual or daily wage services.

Subsequently, names of the petitioners were sent to the committee for regularisation by their department and since they fulfilled the required criteria, the committee ordered regularisation of their services vide its minutes.



However, order of the committee was not implemented by the respondent departments in its true letter and spirit. Later, one of the employees, Abdul Hye Agha, petitioned the IHC. The writ petition was allowed and service of Agha was regularised on August 18, 2015 after he invoked court’s jurisdiction.

“But the present petitioners were deprived of the same benefit of regularisation of services in pursuance of orders of the cabinet sub-committee,” Rehman said.

He argued that failure of the respondents not to treat the petitioners in the same manner as Agha was treated as highly unjust, unreasonable, arbitrary and discriminatory.

Rehman requested to direct respondents for issuance of notification of regularisation of the present petitioners. Also, he requested the court to order the ministries to release salaries of some of the petitioners.