Temporary, contract, daily wage employees: Superior courts always disapproved practice: SHC

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has observed that superior courts have always disapproved of the practice of continuous service on a temporary/contract/daily wages/contingent paid staff basis for a long period.

A division bench of the SHC comprising Justice Irfan Saadat Khan and Justice Adnan-ul-Karim Memon gave the observation in an order, released on Wednesday, of a case related to regularization of services of employees of Directorate of Training and Research (Customs, Excise and Sales Tax) who moved the court.

According to the court order, the petitioners were appointed as contingent paid staff against the various posts in 2006 to 2009 and they have been performing their duties and after the expiry of the initial period of their service, it was extended. However, their services were not regularized on the sole ground that they were contingent paid staff and their services could not be regularized notwithstanding the availability of sanctioned posts and the budget thereof.

The bench stated that it is noteworthy that the performance of the petitioners was not disputed.

The court stated that the petitioners hinge on the minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet Committee dated 29.08.2012, which prima facie show that the contract employees who have completed one year of satisfactory service are required to be regularized, and the names of petitioners are also appearing in the list of employees of the Directorate General of Training and Research (Customs) Karachi.

While considering the case of the petitioners in the light of the law laid down by the Supreme Court in the cases titled “Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Faisalabad, through Chairman and others v. Tanveer Sajid and others”, the decision of the Cabinet Committee dated 29.8.2012, the court directed that the petitioners are “similarly placed” with the employees of the other departments and entitled to the same treatment as extended to them.

The court directed the Directorate to consider the case of the petitioners for regularization of their services in terms of the Cabinet Sub-Committee decision dated 29.8.2012 and more particularly in the light of ratio of the judgments of the Supreme Court and ordered to complete the exercise within two months.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021