Senate body seeks pensioners, assets detail of PTCL

ISLAMABAD: The Senate's Sub-committee on Information Technology on Tuesday sought asset details of the Pakistan Telecommunication Limited (PTCL) and total number of its pensioners, besides directing it to clear their dues within a fortnight.

The meeting chaired by Convener Rukhsana Zubairi directed the PTCL to complete homework for resolving the issues of pensioners within a week. The meeting was attended by senators Kulsoom Parveen and Rehman Malik.

The committee was told that 343 PTCL employees had filed a petition in the Supreme Court and got relief from the apex court, whereas the rest were still deprived of their right of pension.

The convener observed that non-payment of dues to the PTCL employees was contempt of court as well as violation of the Constitution and law of the land. She said the decision of Supreme Court should have been implemented on all employees.

The committee sought last five years’ audit reports of Pakistan Telecommunication Employees Trust (PTET) and directed to ensure recovery of the overdue amount of PTET.

The committee expressed dismay over the absence of PTCL's high officials and directed them to attend its next meeting.

The meeting discussed in detail the pension issue of the employees of PTCL. The committee observed that the PTCL employees were being denied their legal rights.

The committee was told that the employees of TNT had been merged in the PTCL and TNT employees enjoyed the rights of government employees.

It stressed on the need is to scrutinise the investment and profit of Pakistan Telecommunication Employees Trust.

Rehman Malik said the employees should be paid pension as soon as possible, saying Supreme Court decision must not be flouted. No law could be enacted against the constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

The committee would not allow trampling of the rights of employees. The PTCL officials told the committee that the PTET had Rs 109 billion funds till December 2018 whereas Rs 116 billion was needed for (payments) and Rs 7 billion was deficit. Payments could not be made due to absence of funds.