SHC moved against job termination of 9,350 PSM workers

The Pakistan Steel Mills Workers Union challenged in the Sindh High Court on Tuesday the federal government decision to terminate the jobs of around 9,350 employees of the mills.

The union and others submitted in their petition that the federal government had failed to implement the decision of Economic Coordination Committee of April 24, 2014, in which the final plan was decided to revive the PSM and enable it to achieve 77 per cent of capacity utilisation, constitute a proper board of directors and appoint the chief executive officer for properly running the affairs and business of PSM.

The petitioners said the gas supply to the PSM had been stopped by the Sui Southern Gas Company, which led to the shutdown of its operation, its plants and machinery worth billion of rupees under a plan to completely destroy the state-owned entity.

They said the federal government had refused to execute and implement the agreement with the government of Russia, which was willing to help PSM to become a robust and self-sufficient entity. They said the government had also failed to pay the salaries of its employees in order to subjugate them and lastly release a retrenchment plan and expressed its desire to make another attempt of the PSM’s privatisation by terminating all the 9350 employees.

The petitioners submitted that the ECC had decided to sack the employees in an attempt to later privatise the PSM, which was totally inconsistent with the fundamental rights of the employees as well as a Supreme Court judgment.

They observed that privatisation could happen only after the framing of a policy through the Council of Common Interest; therefore, the ECC decision was liable to be declared void and ultra vires the constitution.

They argued that purported action for the retrenchment of the PSM workers was illegal as the retrenchment plan was issued without lawful authority or jurisdiction as contradictory to the procedures set out in the West Pakistan Industrial and Commercial Employment (standing order) Ordinance. They said the ECC acted beyond its jurisdiction by approving the retrenchment plan.

They stated that the PSM had been deliberately shut down by the federal government with an ultimate design to sell its assets in the market for peanuts, whereas steel was continued to be imported at exorbitant rates and owners of private re-rolling mills benefited from this at the expense of the national exchequer.

The court was requested to declare the plan for the termination of PSM employees from service as unlawful and action of athe ECC as ultra vires and in violation of the SC judgment in the Steel Mills case.