Pressure tactics - AIOU ‘discouraging’ employees from going to court. PHOTO: FILE
What do you do when most of your staff wants to sue you?
Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) has gone with creating so many hurdles that filing a case becomes near-impossible.
Through a recent notification issued by AIOU Vice Chancellor Nazir Ahmad Sangi, the varsity administration has now made employees who file cases against the varsity liable for the “recovery of costs incurred by the varsity in defending litigation”.
The notification is aimed at curbing the heavy influx of employees who approach various courts if they feel the varsity administration is not addressing their concerns. This year saw many frantic protests by several hundred employees who wanted to be regularised, causing university life to come to a halt.
The idea behind the move is to recover lawyers’ retainers paid by the varsity and the legal fees for individual cases. In addition, 50 per cent of the overheads charged by AIOU’s defence lawyers will also be paid by the staffers.
While courts often use their authority to punish the losing party in a case by making them liable to pay some or all of the victor’s legal fees, it is unusual for an organisation to make it part of their internal terms and conditions.
An official of the varsity dealing with its legal counsel said although the university has to defend cases every other day at a heavy cost, the management’s decision is incomprehensible. “If they expect to be paid back in cases they win, then those who win against the varsity will also claim they be repaid as well,” he said.
Besides, the order states that the university will ensure the cost recovery which will be based on the monthly salary of concerned employees on a case-to-case basis.
According to an Islamabad High Court (IHC) official, 52 cases related to AIOU are pending in different courts.
The litigants are employees of the main campus as well as AIOU’s regional campuses and are fighting cases involving their appointment, grades, salaries, regularisation, and other issues.
AIOU Registrar Bashir Chaudhry said the notification will later be approved from the university’s executive council. “We were losing a lot of time defending our position on trivial issues in court, which was diverting our attention from administrative affairs,” said Chaudhry.
He defended the notification, saying that the varsity was spending millions to clear its position on cases of little or no value.
However, several employees expressed their apprehensions about the step. “First they deprive many staffers of bonuses and Eid fund due to their involvement in agitation against the varsity. Now they have done this,” said an official of the special education department.
Meanwhile, on the legalese involved, IHC lawyer Shoaib Shaheen said, “It is the right of every citizen to seek justice and creating hurdles is a clear violation of Article 8 of the Constitution.”
He commented that it is also violation of Article 14 which calls for inviolability of dignity of man, “which”, according to Shaheen, “is state’s responsibility.”
He strongly asserted that nobody can stop citizens from reaching out to the courts for justice and no one can harass or pressurise anyone for doing so, as it is violation of basic human rights, protected by not only the country’s law but international law as well.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 20th, 2013.
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