Exempting private schools from minimum wage: PHC says impugned act violation of Constitution

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has declared the impugned Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Amendment) Act 2015 barring the private educational institutions from applicability of minimum wage law in violation of the Constitution and struck it down.

“Keeping in view the mandate Article 3, 4, 8 and 25 of the Constitution the impugned Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Amendment) Act 2015 is in violation of the Constitution, 1973, and is, therefore, struck down accordingly, being ultra vires as not only the parent laws, but also the Constitution,” said a 17-pages detailed judgment, authored by Justice Ikramullah Khan. The second judge in the bench was Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim.

The court held in its judgment that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government provided huge salary to the teachers serving in government educational institutions, but so far the employees of private educational are concerned, the right of minimum wages conferred through KP Payment Wages Act, 2013, that is Rs14000 per month, were taken away from the employees of private educational institutions.

It was stated that depriving the employees of the private educational institutions of this right is discrimination, which is a clear violation of Articles 25 and 38 of the Constitution.

“It is established principle of law that while passing any law it shall be imperative for the legislature to keep in mind the social setting of the society and its growing requirements. In order to enact a law or provision introduced through an amendment in already parent legislation, the approach in this regard shall be dynamic rather than statistic, pragmatic and not pedantic and shall be elastic rather than rigid. There shall be a purpose in order to improve the social status of citizens particularly worker class,” the high court hold in the detailed judgment.

However, the court declared that no doubt, the government or any private member in term of Rule 77 of the KP Provincial Assembly Procedure and Conduct of Business Rule, 1988 may legislate or amend any provincial law, but such amendment or new legislation in this regard shall not be against the legal rights conferred upon/worker by the labour laws and the Constitution also.

“Any law against the rights of labour which adversely affect the vested rights of such worker and also tarnish the image of the whole nation in so far as rights of workers, are concerned could not be termed as a good law,” the court observed.

The bench passed the judgment in a constitutional writ petition of a Peshawar-based lawyer, Salim Shah Hoti, who had challenged the amendments to the labour law and requested the court to strike down the relevant amendments to the laws by declaring them illegal.

He had filed the petition in the public interest, saying private educational institutions across the province were subjecting teachers to the worst form of exploitation but they had been removed from the purview of the Labour Department for being owned by several lawmakers.

The petitioner claimed that the assembly’s speaker Asad Qaiser and other lawmakers from the government side owned educational institutions, due to which the impugned amendments were made. During the course of hearing, Saleem Shah Hoti submitted that there was no law in the province to regulate private educational institutions, especially the salary of teachers and working conditions for them.