A year on: FST becomes operational in capital
Offices in Karachi, Lahore still have over 1,300 pending cases
ISLAMABAD:
Though the Federal Services Tribunal (FST) has recommenced its operation in the capital after a yearlong hiatus, the offices in Lahore and Karachi have yet to see any progress regarding vacancies in the bodies.
The FST is essentially the bureaucracy’s courtroom — a government body that addresses grievances or complaints of federal government employees above grade-17, mostly CSS officers.
Te authority had been inactive since August last year due to lack of members.
Justice (retd) Sheikh Ahmad Farooq took charge as the new Federal Services Tribunal (FST) chairperson in August.
The FST was made defunct on March 25, 2013 after a three-member Supreme Court (SC) bench headed by then-chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry declared all appointments at the federal and the four provincial tribunal offices illegal.
The Supreme Court then ordered the governments to reconstitute the tribunal after making the necessary amendments to the governing act — the Services Tribunal Act of 1973 - but the government failed to comply with the orders till very recently.
Just after the chairperson’s appointment, the hunt began to fill the rest of the vacancies on the tribunals. There are two members each in the FST’s Lahore and Karachi offices and six in Islamabad. Two benches have been constituted in Islamabad which comprise of four members and are headed by the chairperson.
One bench is being headed by Justice (retd) Sheikh Ahmad Farooq and Justice Aafaq Hussain, while the other bench comprises of Sessions Judge Rafique Hussain and Justice Arshad Ali.
The delay in reactivation has caused unnecessary suffering for a number of civil servants whose cases are awaiting hearings.
FST Registrar Mian Gulzar Hussain told The Express Tribune that there are about 6,000 pending applications, “almost 800 in Lahore, 500 in Karachi and the rest are in Islamabad”.
According to another official, cases regarding alleged wrongful suspension or dismissal of employees will be given priority. Besides almost 1,300 cases are pending in Lahore and Karachi.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 18th, 2014.
Though the Federal Services Tribunal (FST) has recommenced its operation in the capital after a yearlong hiatus, the offices in Lahore and Karachi have yet to see any progress regarding vacancies in the bodies.
The FST is essentially the bureaucracy’s courtroom — a government body that addresses grievances or complaints of federal government employees above grade-17, mostly CSS officers.
Te authority had been inactive since August last year due to lack of members.
Justice (retd) Sheikh Ahmad Farooq took charge as the new Federal Services Tribunal (FST) chairperson in August.
The FST was made defunct on March 25, 2013 after a three-member Supreme Court (SC) bench headed by then-chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry declared all appointments at the federal and the four provincial tribunal offices illegal.
The Supreme Court then ordered the governments to reconstitute the tribunal after making the necessary amendments to the governing act — the Services Tribunal Act of 1973 - but the government failed to comply with the orders till very recently.
Just after the chairperson’s appointment, the hunt began to fill the rest of the vacancies on the tribunals. There are two members each in the FST’s Lahore and Karachi offices and six in Islamabad. Two benches have been constituted in Islamabad which comprise of four members and are headed by the chairperson.
One bench is being headed by Justice (retd) Sheikh Ahmad Farooq and Justice Aafaq Hussain, while the other bench comprises of Sessions Judge Rafique Hussain and Justice Arshad Ali.
The delay in reactivation has caused unnecessary suffering for a number of civil servants whose cases are awaiting hearings.
FST Registrar Mian Gulzar Hussain told The Express Tribune that there are about 6,000 pending applications, “almost 800 in Lahore, 500 in Karachi and the rest are in Islamabad”.
According to another official, cases regarding alleged wrongful suspension or dismissal of employees will be given priority. Besides almost 1,300 cases are pending in Lahore and Karachi.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 18th, 2014.