The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday reserved the verdict on the review petitions in the sacked employees case.A five-member larger bench headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, Justice Qazi Mohammad Amin and Justice Aminuddin Khan heard the review petitions filed by the federal government and the sacked employees against the judgment declaring SERA ultra vires of the Constitution. A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Justice MushirAlam on August 17 had declared the Sacked Employees (Reinstatement) Act, 2010 as unconstitutional after it was enacted for reinstating the employees who were appointed from Nov 1, 1993, till Nov 30, 1996, and sacked by the then government from Nov 1, 1996, till Oct 12, 1999.
During the course of proceedings, the court gave the Attorney General another chance to argue on the Sacked Employees Act.Addressing the AGP, Justice Bandial said that he should keep in mind that the nature of these review petitions had changed as the current case was a review petitions, but the court had redefined the law.Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan said that the government wanted restoration of the employees. He said that the proposed suggestions of the government were subject to the consent of the affected employees. Grade one to seven employees should be reinstated, he added.
He said that employees who fall into the category of misconduct were not included in the recommendations. If the employees did not agree on the proposals then the government would maintain its earlier position in the review petitions, he added. Upon this, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah addressing the AGP said that according to him, if these petitions were rejected, then the government would follow the proposed recommendations.The AGP pleaded the court to accept the review petitions and announce a decision. Justice Bandial observed that this was a different case from the review petitions as the case was now out of the jurisdiction of just a review petition. A large number of people were affected and the case of the employees was a good case of Article 184/3 but it had been applied in the main case, he added. He said that the public interest exercise had already taken place in the case and the court was protecting their fundamental rights. All judges agreed that this was a matter of public interest, he added.
He said that the court was not in agreement with the government’s proposals. Employee recruitment procedures must be followed, he added.
He said that the Supreme Court had announced many decisions regarding merit based and transparent recruitment during the last 30 years. Former Chief Justice Jawad S.Khawaja had announced an excellent verdict in the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) case, he added.
He said that procedure must be followed in accordance with the constitution and law. He said that the government acknowledged in its proposals that the rules were not followed. The court did not want to indulge in contradictions, he added. He observed that employee’s rights were affected when they were terminated from service. Rules and regulations were also violated during recruitment of the employees, he added.He said that the court had sympathy for the sacked employees but it had to follow the constitution and law. If the bench had to provide relief then it would provide it according to the constitution and the court would follow the constitution, not government proposals, he added.
He said that the court had been implementing the recruitment procedure for 30 years. The court would ensure people were not allowed into constitutional institutions in an illegal way, he added.
