Employees to move SC to claim special allowance

Islamabad : The employees of several attached departments of the federal government have decided to move the Supreme Court to claim 20 per cent special allowance like other federal government officials.

According to them, a division bench of the Islamabad High Court on Wednesday accepted the federal government's intra-court appeal against the orders of a single-member bench for the payment of 20 per cent special allowance to all federal government employees.

They said the then PPP government had approved a special allowance in March 2013 for the employees of the ministries and divisions of Pakistan Secretariat but the allowance was not given to the government servants of attached departments.

To end the discrimination, the employees of other departments, including the Federal government College Teachers Association, Pakistan PWD, departments of communication security, CDA union and Pakistan Council of Science and Technology approached the IHC in April 2013 challenging that the allowance should also be paid to them.

Twenty-three identical petitions were filed by the employees of various federal government departments.

Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui had observed that all government employees should be equally treated and discriminatory attitude would not be tolerated. He had directed the federal government on June 18, 2013, to notify the 20 per cent special allowance for all employees.

However, instead of obeying the orders, the government filed an intra-court appeal against the decision of Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui.

After scores of hearings in over five years, the double bench of the IHC decided the mater in favour of the federation of Pakistan on June 13, 2018.

Professor Tahir Mahmood, former president of Federal Government College Teachers Association, told 'The News' that the decision had created unrest among the employees long seeking 20 per cent special allowance.

“This verdict has disappointed and distressed thousands of federal government servants of attached departments, who had spent both money and time during the last five years to claim relief, but to no avail. We will challenge it in the Supreme Court hoping to get orders for an end to this discrimination against us," he said.