Trade unions made intervenors in pleas against Rs25k basic wage
Sindh High Court. PHOTO: FILE
The Sindh High Court accepted on Tuesday pleas submitted by trade unions and non-governmental organisations to become intervenors in petitions submitted by employers against the minimum wage set in Sindh.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and Justice Adnanul Karim Memon, decided to club together all petitions challenging the minimum wage set by the Sindh government for the fiscal year 2021-22.
The petitioners, including the Employers Federation of Pakistan, have contended that fixing the minimum wage at Rs25,000 per month is 'unfair'. They argue that private businesses and employers are willing to pay workers Rs19,000 instead of Rs17,500, which was the previous minimum wage.
The petitioners claim there is no legal basis for a 43 per cent increase in the minimum wage for unskilled workers and it would also provoke a proportionate increase in the wages of workers in other categories. The petitioners argue that the provincial government did not take their recommendations into consideration and exceeded its bounds. The raise could disrupt the entire salary structure and adversely impact businesses, pushing some to closures, contend the petitioners.
The SHC had issued notices to the Sindh labour and human resources secretary and the Sindh minimum wage board secretary seeking their replies on such a petition submitted earlier.
During the hearing on Tuesday, Justice Panhwar remarked that hearing the petitions separately could complicate matters.
Clubbing the employers' petitions together, the bench fixed the hearing for September 2 and adjourned the hearing.
LG polls
Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf members of Sindh Assembly Khurram Sher Zaman, Bilal Ghaffar, Arsalan Taj, Saeed Afridi, Shahzad Qureshi and Sidra Imran approached the SHC seeking the immediate hearing of a plea calling for local government elections in Sindh and the appointments of non-political administrators in the interim.
The tenure of the last elected local government expired on August 30, 2020. Under the Elections Act 2017 the Sindh government was bound to hold local body elections within three months after the term of elected officials ended but it has yet to do so.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan has filed a similar petition before the SHC, which is pending hearing.
Records sought
Hearing a set of pleas seeking the recovery of missing persons, same bench sought assistance from the Sindh prosecutor-general and the advocate-general in one missing citizen's case.
Missing Sheikh Feroze's family informed the court that he has been missing for five years.
During the hearing, the investigation officer said Feroze had arrived from South Africa and was involved in several criminal cases, including two murder cases that were later squashed.
"How can murder cases be quashed?" the bench remarked.
At this, the Sindh Rangers counsel apprised the court that the government had withdrawn the cases after the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) was promulgated by former military dictator Pervez Musharraf's government.
The court issued notices to the top lawyers for their assistance and sought records of murder cases quashed under the NRO.
Missing cop
Separately, the bench directed the police to immediately trace the whereabouts of missing police constable Khurram Hussain Shah.
The petitioner, Khurram's father, said that his elder son, Wakeel Hasnain Shah, was killed two years ago. For the past six months, his younger son, Khurram, has been missing.
The petitioner informed the court that Khurram had served on slain SSP Chaudhry Aslam's team for a long time. Expressing bewilderment at the police's failure to trace the missing constable's whereabouts, the court directed law enforcement personnel to ensure immediate recovery and adjourned the hearing till October 4.
Reply sought
Meanwhile, another bench comprising Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi and Justice Kausar Sultana Hussain sought the petitioner's counter reply to the replies submitted by the Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) and Defence Housing Authority (DHA) on their pleas pertaining to damages during monsoon rains 2020.
The CBC and DHA assured the court in their reply that judicial orders would be implemented and necessary arrangements would be made. Seeking the petitioner's counter reply, the bench adjourned the hearing.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 1st, 2021.