Benefits under armed forces law: FCC sets aside SHC order in OGDCL employee’s case
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) ruled that the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), in its present corporate form, does not fall within any of the entities enumerated in Section 9A of the Compulsory Service in the Armed Forces Ordinance, 1971.
The judgment, authored by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, said that the OGDCL, established under the Oil and Gas Development Corporation Ordinance, 1961, ceased to be a statutory corporation as on 23 October 1997 and was incorporated as a public limited company under the Companies Ordinance, 1984.
It said that the transformation of the Corporation from a statutory body into a public limited company was accorded legal recognition and protection through the promulgation of the Oil and Gas Development Corporation (Re-organisation) Ordinance, 2001, and the Ordinance of 1961 stood repealed by virtue of Section 7 of the Ordinance of 2001.
A three-member FCC bench set aside the Sindh High Court (SHC) impugned order, whereby the petitioners (Managing Director, Oil and Gas Development Company Limited and others) were directed to grant benefits to the respondent’s (former Captain Dr Nusrat Hussain) family in accordance with his entitlements under Section 9A of the Ordinance of 1971.
The respondent was a qualified doctor and, vide Call-Up Notice dated 04.03.1981, was called upon to serve in the Pakistan Army under the Ordinance of 1971. In compliance therewith, he reported to the Commanding Officer on 22.03.1981. After serving for nine years and twenty-nine days, he was released from the service of the Pakistan Army vide Release Order dated 21.10.1989.
Subsequently, he applied for the post of Medical Officer in the Oil and Gas Development Corporation, now the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), which had been advertised through a publication in 1990. He was issued an offer letter on 15.02.1992, and he joined the service of the Corporation on 18.08.1992. Thereafter, through successive applications dated 07.08.1994, 05.07.2000, 01.12.2002, and 27.01.2009, the respondent requested the petitioners to count and/or consider his compulsory service in the Pakistan Army towards his seniority and pay in accordance with Section 9A of the Ordinance of 1971.
However, except for the grant of two advance increments, his request was declined by the petitioners on each occasion vide office memorandum dated 19.10.1994, 24.08.2000, 31.12.2002, and 27.01.2009, respectively, on the ground that he had been appointed through a competitive selection process pursuant to an advertisement and had accepted the pay, allowances, and other terms and conditions of service offered to him at the time of his appointment.
Being dissatisfied, the respondent, on 01.02.2011, filed an application (though styled as an appeal) seeking redressal of his grievance; however, the same was also declined by the OGDCL vide office memorandum dated 29.04.2011. Ultimately, he instituted a constitutional petition, which was allowed by the High Court vide the impugned order, whereby the petitioners were directed to grant his service benefits to his family in accordance with his entitlements under Section 9A of the Ordinance of 1971.
The judgment noted that the respondent (Nusrat Hussain) joined the service of the original Corporation on 18.08.1992 and remained in service on 23.10.1997, the date of its incorporation as the OGDCL, a public limited company. It noted the benefit now claimed by him under Section 9A of the Ordinance of 1971 was neither recognised nor part of his service conditions at the time of such conversion.
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