SC orders to reinstate KP employees

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday ruled that Khyber Pukhtoonkhawa (KP) government cannot adopt cherry picking policy to regularise employees of certain projects while terminating the services of others.

A five-member bench headed by Chief Justice (CJ) Anwar Zaheer Jamali announced a reserved judgment in response to appeal of various project employees of Agricultural Department of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa.

The court on February 24, 2016, had reserved the judgment in the matter in response to appeals filed against Peshawar High Court judgment by a number of employees of various projects of the Provincial Agricultural Department.

The appellants had prayed the apex court to decide questions of law as to whether the aggrieved employees of various projects are governed by the provisions of the KP Employees (Regularisation of Services) Act, 2009.

The judgment authored by Justice Ameer Hani Muslim ruled that Section 3 of the Act clearly provides for regularisation of the employees appointed either on contract basis or ad hoc basis and were holding contract appointments on December 31, 2008 or till the commencement of this Act.

The court noted that the respondents were appointed on one year contract basis, which was extended from time to time and were holding their respective posts on the cut-off date provided in Section 3 (December 31, 2008).

It is also an admitted fact that the respondents were appointed on contract basis against project posts but the projects were funded by the KPK government by allocating regular provincial budget prior to the promulgation of the Act”, the judgment ruled.

The court further observed that almost all the projects were brought under the regular Provincial Budget Schemes by the KPK government and summaries were approved by the KP Chief Minster for operating the Projects on permanent basis.

It noted that On Farm Water Management Project” was brought on the regular side in 2006 and the project was declared as an attached department of the Food, Agriculture, Livestock and Co-operative Department. Likewise, other projects were also brought under the regular Provincial Budget Scheme.

Therefore, services of the respondents would not be affected by the language of Section 2(aa) and (b) of the Act, which could only be attracted if the Projects were abolished on the completion of their prescribed tenure, says the judgment.

It observed that the projects initially were introduced for a specified time but afterward transferred on permanent basis by attaching them with provincial government departments. The employees of the same project were adjusted against the posts created by the provincial government in this behalf.

The court ruled that the record further reveals that the respondents were appointed on contract basis and were in employment/service for several years and projects on which they were appointed have also been taken on the regular budget of the provincial government, therefore, their status as project employees has ended once their services were transferred to the different attached government departments, in terms of Section 3 of the Act.

The court while setting aside the Peshawar High Court verdict in the matter, directed the concerned department to reinstate them in service from the date of their termination, adding that all the respondents are held entitled to the back benefits for the period they have worked with the project or the KP government.

The court concluded that the service of the appellants for the intervening period i:e from the date of their termination till the date of their reinstatement, shall be computed towards their pension benefits.