Hired by PPP: Court annuls regularisation of 350 NHA employees

Petitioner claims Rs12 billion diverted from road works to salaries.

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday declared null and void the recommendations of the former Pakistan Peoples Party-led cabinet sub-committee for the regularisation on daily wages and contract employees of the federal government.

The decision was announced in response to a petition filed by senior employees of the National Highways Authority (NHA) seeking the de-regularisation of contractual and daily wage employees regularised by the PPP government. The counsel claimed that the NHA has been paying Rs12 billion per annum in salaries to these employees, whereas the amount had been slated for road development works.

Counsel for the petitioner Tariq Mehmood Jehangiri maintained that these employees were appointed with complete disregard of their educational qualifications, age, experience, domicile and the number of vacant posts available. “These employees were inducted without any tests or interviews and the cabinet’s sub-committee recommended their regularisation,” he argued.

Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui in his order noted that employees whose services have been regularised by the committee have no legal standing, and these employees were appointed without following due process.

The petitioner’s counsel submitted a list of around 350 employees and claimed that nearly 90 of them belong to Multan, 60 come from Sukkur and others from electoral constituencies of MNAs of the former PPP government. The petition stated that the committee’s decision has affected the seniority of other employees.

The defence counsel opposed the argument and said that through the decision thousands of employees would be rendered jobless and requested the court to dismiss the petition. However, the court remarked, “We have buried the Doctrine of Necessity and everything should be done on merit.”

The bench directed all the institutions of the federal government to verify the records of the employees and endorse the regularisation of those who fulfill the criteria in respect of educational qualifications, experience, age and domicile.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30^th, 2014.