Govt. Confident Of Sacked Employees' Reinstatement: Senate Told

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan on Monday expressed confidence that the sacked employees would be reinstated as a result of the review petition filed by the government with the Supreme Court

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Sep, 2021 ) :Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan on Monday expressed confidence that the sacked employees would be reinstated as a result of the review petition filed by the government with the Supreme Court.

"By the Grace of Allah Almighty, we will get a good judgment from the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Hopefully, these employees will be reinstated with all perks, privileges and salaries," he said while winding up a debate on a motion filed by opposition members.

Senators Sherry Rehman, Imamuddin Shouqeen, Anwar Lal Dean and Taj Haider had moved the motion to discuss the plight of thousands of employees, who had been made redundant through the Supreme Court judgment declaring the Sacked Employees (Reinstatement) Act, 2010 ultra-vires of the Constitution.

He said the government would actively pursue the case as it fully supported the ousted employees.

Without wasting any time, the minister said, the government held meetings with the delegation of the sacked employees, prepared and submitted a review petition with the court after getting formal approval from Prime Minister Imran Khan.

He said all political parties had played a crucial role for an independent judiciary in the country, so there should be no bashing of the courts.

He asked the opposition members to avoid using derogatory language against national leadership and the judiciary.

Leader of the House Dr Waseem Shahzad said, "We are standing by them (sacked employees) and will extend all possible legal assistance to them," he said.

He reminded the House that it was the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government that had sacked the employees in 1997 whom the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had regularized in 1996.

He said PPP had reinstated the employees after coming into the power in 2008 through an act of the parliament.

In the recent judgment, Dr Shahazad said few employees had approached the court because their seniority had affected due to reinstatement of the sacked employees, adding the incumbent government had nothing to do with it.

Earlier, Senator Raza Rabbani suggested reinstating the employees through a collective legislation by both Lower and Upper Houses of the Parliament.

Senator Taj Haider was of the view that the apex court should review its decision on humanitarian, Islamic and economic grounds, giving due consideration to financial miseries of the employees who were ousted from their jobs even after spending over a decade to perform their duties.

He asked the Supreme Court to constitute a larger bench to review its decision.

Senators Irfan-ul-Haque Siddiqui, Mushtaq Ahmed, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri and Afnan Ullah Khan also spoke in favour of early reinstatement of the sacked employees.