Judgement reserved on KPT employees’ plea against dismissal

The Sindh High Court on Monday reserved judgment on identical petitions against their termination filed by employees of the Karachi Port Trust who were hired in the period between June 9, 2012 and November 21, 2013.

The petitioners Asghar Baig and others have challenged the show-cause notice issued to them by the KPT management and submitted that they were appointed and regularised in different departments of KPT after fulfilling all legal formalities.

The petitioners submitted that KPT authorities had issued show-cause notices to employees in bulk which stated that the appointments made from June 9, 2012 to November 21, 2013 were made on political influences, nepotism, cronyism and in sheer disregard of a free, transparent and regularisation process.

The notice further stated that no directions were issued by the prime minister for regularisation of the employees, and all appointments were made without fulfilling the requirements for advertisements and in violation of legal procedure.

Rejecting the contents of the show cause notice, the petitioner’s counsel submitted that the notice was issued with malafide intentions. He submitted that the respondents were bent upon terminating the services of the employees without giving them the opportunity of a fair hearing.

The counsel stated that the show-cause notices were issued on the findings of fact-finding committee that never heard the petitioners version of events. The court was requested to set aside the show-cause notice and restrain the KPT from terminating the services of the employees.

The KPT counsel defended the notice and submitted that the appointments were made on political and nepotistic grounds, and in sheer disregard of the transparent regularisation process.

After hearing both sides out, the SHC bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar reserved its judgment.