IHC halts employee reinstatements

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has upheld its earlier decision, suspending the implementation of the recommendations issued by the National Assembly's special committee on terminated employees.

An IHC bench, comprising Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir and Justice Inaam Ameen Minhas, ruled that the committee overstepped its constitutional and legal mandate in directing the reinstatement and regularisation of government employees.

The court dismissed all intra-court appeals filed against a single bench verdict that had halted enforcement of the committee's recommendations, thereby maintaining the legal bar on their implementation by federal institutions and government departments.

The bench rejected the appeals after declaring them devoid of merit, concluding that the directions were inconsistent with established law and violated the constitutional framework governing public service matters.

According to the verdict, the role of the National Assembly's special committee was purely advisory and limited strictly to deliberations and submission of its report before parliament, a function the court acknowledged as constitutionally and legally permissible.

However, the judgment held that the committee's issuance of binding directions to heads of institutions for the reinstatement and regularisation of employees was unlawful, as such authority does not fall within the committee's constitutional or statutory jurisdiction.

The court further ruled that the committee's instructions regarding the fixation of seniority and determination of salaries were also issued without lawful authority, stressing that these matters are governed by statutory rules and established service laws.

Rejecting arguments that the committee's actions amounted to procedural lapses, the bench observed that the measures constituted a clear violation of the constitutional and legal framework, and could not be treated as mere irregularities.

The judgment noted that the committee's actions amounted to interference in the domain of the executive and judiciary, and that its directions contravened the Civil Servants Act and applicable service rules, rendering them legally unsustainable.

Endorsing the earlier ruling, the court held that the single bench was fully justified in declaring the committee's directions illegal, emphasising that relevant institutions already possessed independent authority to reinstate or regularise employees under the law.

The bench clarified that any authority exercised by institutions solely on the basis of the committee's directions did not enjoy legal protection, and the court would not compel departments to revisit such cases, leaving the matter entirely to their discretion.

The National Assembly's special committee, chaired by Qadir Khan Mandokhail, had issued recommendations for the regularisation of contract employees, daily wagers and project-based staff, which now remain suspended following the court's ruling.