SINDH HIGH COURT RESERVED JUDGMENT –, 7TH WAGE BOARD AWARD CASE CHALLANGED BY THE APNS

SINDH HIGH COURT RESERVED JUDGMENT –, 7^TH WAGE BOARD AWARD CASE CHALLANGED BY THE APNS

KARACHI, Aug 23 :- Division Bench of Sindh High Court (SHC) reserved Judgments in three different Constitutional Writ Petitions filed by the APNS and the media houses, challenging vires of the Newspapers Employees (Conditions of Service) Act 1973, 7^th Wage Board Award and Powers of the Implementation Tribunal for Newspaper Employees after hearing detailed arguments of the counsels for All-Pakistan Newspapers Society), Pakistan Herald Publications Limited (Daily Dawn), Abdul Hafeez Pirzida, Deputy Attorney General, Mian Khan Malik, counsel for Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) Shehanshah Hussain, Rasheed A Razvi, Pakistan Herald Workers Union counsel Faiz Gangro and Jang Employees Union Counsel Akhtar Husain.

The bench, comprising Mr. Justice Mushier Aalam and Mr. Justice Aqil Abbasi, resumed hearing of three separate Writ Petitions filed by media owners organisation APNS through which they inter-alia challenged the validity of the NESCA 1973, vires and justification of 7^th Wage Award and the powers of the Implementation Tribunal for Newspaper Employees (ITNE), Islamabad.

The litigation was initiated by the media owners since the announcement of the 7^th wage award. The award was supposed to the operative from July 1, 2000, but is still in litigation and could not be implemented, because of the Media Owners refused to accept it as a legal document.

The media owners at their own as well as their organisation APNS are agitating before various judicial forums and successfully maneuvering delay in the implementation of the 7^th wage award by securing restraint orders from the courts of law on various pretexts and misrepresentations, as well as wrong interpretation of law.

Not only this, media owners made the ITNE literally inoperative for proceeding owing to non implementation of 7^thwage award by getting restrain orders from the Sindh High Court, even without notice to the PFUJ or any workers Union any where in Pakistan.

The newspaper employees are suffering for over a decade and are being forced by the newspaper owners to work on salary package of 6^th WBA under which the minimum salary and benefits for newspaper employees were fixed keeping in view prices of daily use items, POL, electricity, gas, etc. prevailing in the early 1996.

Miseries of newspaper employees still remain unresolved and they are being paralysed by media owners by employing various unlawful, immoral, unethical, illegal tactics with the jugglery of making the law inoperative, ineffective for personal gains and advantages.

Today, the counsels for newspaper employees, PFUJ and Deputy Attorney General argued before the divisional bench that the stance taken by the media owners that “the constitutional mechanism under the NESCA 1973 is against the fundamental rights and is a discriminatory law” was nothing but distortion of the fact as well as wrong notion and misinterpretation of the right of freedom of expression and press.

They further contended that the Federal Government and Provincial Governments are bearing over 70 percent of the financial burden in the wake of implementation of 7^th wage award in the shape of increase in wages and other fridge benefits of the employees.

They further argued that the government is also providing a number of concessions in the shape of taxes, import duties, levies of various duties and other incentives to media owners with an objective to financially help them out so that they implement the wage board decision and extend financial benefits to their respective workers.

They also argued that media owners have already implemented six wage awards, out of 7, and in this back-drop too it appears that they are just prolonging their lawful obligation of the implementation of the wage award by taking shelter under frivolous litigations.

By another writ petitions, newspaper owners challenged the powers of ITNE, its constitution, jurisdiction for recovery of Wage Board Awards benefits Under Land Revune Act, and legality of the 7^th Wage Board Award. The learned bench after hearing of the arguments both of the parties reserved the judgments in all the three Writ Petitions. The Writ Petitions are pending for adjudication before the Sindh High Court for over 5 years.

The learned court after hearing the arguments of both the parties reserved the judgment.

Shamsul Islam Naz
Secretary General
PAKISTAN FEDERAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS
12-Nazimuddin Road, F-6/1
Islamabad, Pakistan
Phone Office +92(0)51 2870220-1
Facsimile +92(0)51 2870223
Cellular +92(0)300 8665523
http://www.shamsulislamnaz.com
http://www.pfuj.pk