PHC issues notice to KP govt, speaker

Minimum wage law & private educational institutions

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday issued a notice to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led provincial government and speaker Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, directing them to submit reply and explain why they deleted the words “private educational institutions” from minimum wages act.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Roohul Amin Khan Chamkani admitted the writ petition for hearing and issued notice to assembly’s Speaker Asad Qaiser, provincial government through the chief secretary, secretary law and advocate general Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The bench also asked the petitioner to submit list of the schools and colleges of the respondents including the assembly speaker and other ministers and lawmakers on the next hearing of the case.

Lawyer Salim Shah Hoti had challenged the PTI-led provincial government’s act in the high court for deleting the words “private educational institutions” from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minimum Wage Act 2013.

The lawyer said the move was aimed at denying the right to minimum wage to teachers and other staff working at private schools and colleges.  He said the provincial legislature had passed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Payment of Wages Act, 2013 and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Industrial Statistics Act, 2013. He said the acts were passed for the welfare of the workers associated with the private sector institutions.

The petitioner pointed out that the legislation was carried out by the provincial legislature as a result of the provincial autonomy granted after the 18th Constitutional Amendment. “These acts are aimed at regulating minimum wage for the persons employed in factories, industrial and commercial establishments and to regulate the payment of wages, provide for regulation of industrial and commercial employment in the province and facilitate the collection of statistics of certain kinds relating to factories, industrial and commercial establishment,” the lawyer said.

He stated that minimum monthly salary had been fixed at Rs13,000 whereas the private educational institutions had employed highly educated and qualified teachers against low salaries. He noted that this was not only disrespectful to them, but insufficient to make both ends meet.

The lawyer submitted that though the educational institutions received fee from students, most teachers were not paid salaries during summer vacations.