Dismissal challenged: PARC, NARC employees challenge their termination

Say they were never given a chance to defend themselves.

ISLAMABAD:

Recently sacked Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) and National Agriculture Research Centre (NARC) employees have moved the court against their termination from service.

Former PARC Assistant Scientific Officer Sidra Majeed and eighteen other sacked employees filed a writ petition with the Islamabad High Court (IHC) through Advocate Chaudhry Imtiaz Ahmed, challenging the May 21 termination order.

The defence council contended that the termination of the employees is the violation of Pakistan Agricultural Research Council Employees (Service) Regulations 1984 and Section 24-A of the General Clauses Act, 1897, as amended by General Clauses (Amendment) Act, 1997.

The PARC chairperson, food and agriculture secretary, secretary to the Prime Minister, NARC director general, National University of Agricultural Sciences project director, PARC Deputy Director Waqar Ahmed and NARC Assistant Director Muhammad Akhlaq Malik were named as respondents.

The petitioners’ lawyer maintained that the order of termination is illegal as they had not been given an opportunity to defend themselves.

“They were not even issued any show cause notices,” he added. He argued that the termination order was issued on directives of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, which is unjust and illegal.

“The petitioners were appointed after due process of law in a transparent manner on regular basis,” he added.

He told the court that the petitioners were duly qualified and they were appointed through proper procedures and that the Departmental Selection Committee recommended them to be appointed on regular basis against available vacancies.

Justice Muhammad Anwar Khan Kasi issued a notice to the PARC deputy director and directed him to submit a reply within two weeks. Official sources told The Express Tribune that the PARC authorities issued termination letters to as many as 250 employees from different departments on the grounds that they had been appointed by former PARC chairperson Zafar Altaf without following the set criteria. However, a number of employees appointed through the same criteria were not terminated as they had influential references. They added that PARC administration, motivated by nepotism, has advertised the jobs again to accommodate certain people on political grounds.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 1^st, 2011.