The Supreme Court on Thursday sought the federal government's response regarding non-operation of the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM). A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Gulzar Ahmed heard the appeal against the Sindh High Court (SHC) order pertaining to payment of gratuity and provident fund of the PSM workers.
The chief justice said despite zero production from the PSM since 2015 the employees were still receiving salaries and enjoying perks and privileges without work, adding that the government was paying billions annually. The chief justice remarked that the government lay off all employees, and appoint new people if it wanted to keep the PSM running.
"It seems the entire national budget has been spent on it," he added. At the last hearing, the court had barred the federal government from selling the PSM's land in order to pay gratuity and the provident funds to its former employees.
The retired employees of the PSM in 2017 had filed a petition before the SHC and contended that they were not being paid their gratuity, leave encashment and provident funds since 2013. They have submitted that gratuity and provident funds of the retired employees have not been paid by the PSM despite the court orders.
They submitted that the PSM had leased its land worth billion of rupees but the retired employees were not paid their pension benefits and other dues. The SHC in August 2019 had ordered seizure of the accounts of the Ministry of Production till payment of gratuity and outstanding dues of over 850 retired employees of the PSM. The federation has challenged the SHC order before the apex court and had also filed review before the High Court. The case was adjourned for two weeks.
Comments
Comments are closed.