By: Saifullah Sargani
The recent Supreme Court decision to reinstate more than 16,000 sacked government employees has been warmly welcomed across the country as it has saved thousands of families from the scourge of unemployment and economic ruin. The background to this issue is that in 1997, the then PML-N government dismissed all the recruitments made during the PPP regime in 1995 and 1996 as political, dismissing the employees. The employees approached the court for reinstatement and took the matter to the Supreme Court but failed to convince the judges. This situation persisted for a decade, but in 2010 the PPP government introduced the Dismissed Employees Rehabilitation Act and in late 2010 succeeded in getting it passed by both the National Assembly and the Senate. As several ministries were transferred to the provinces, the then government managed to make room for them in the new ministries. The (Rehabilitation) Act 2010 was declared illegal and unconstitutional, leaving more than 16,000 government employees unemployed. However, the Supreme Court yesterday exercised its constitutional right to protect human rights by issuing an order for the reinstatement of these employees. Escaped from This reinstatement decision will take effect four months ago when his removal was effected by a court decision. Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, Justice Qazi Amin Ahmed and Justice Aminuddin Khan rejected all the petitions for review and termed the law of PPP era as unconstitutional. However, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah in his dissenting note said that Parliament It is a supreme body, its central role must be recognized, the legislature and the judiciary must abide by their constitutional limits. As per the majority decision, the employees of scale one to seven have been immediately reinstated while those above grade 8 will have to pass departmental test. Dismissed employees for incompetence, corruption and absenteeism will not be reinstated. Justice Umar Ata Bandial on Friday issued a four-point, eight-page written judgment in the appeals seeking annulment of the Second Employees Act, 2010. The court, in a brief written judgment, said that the employees are being rehabilitated from August 17, 2021 by exercising their powers under sub-section 3 of Article 184 and Article 187 of the Constitution. The decision states that it is in conflict with Articles 4, 9, 18 and 25 of the Second Employees Act, 2010. Undoubtedly, this decision of the Supreme Court is a reflection of the fact that human needs are of real importance in civilized human societies. The job of the state is to provide employment, housing, education, medical treatment and other facilities to the people and not to deprive them of it. The constitution of a civilized state provides these guarantees to every citizen and if any law stands in its way, it is declared ineffective under the requirements of justice. In the light of this decision, the actions of evicting the citizens who have been living in their homes in Karachi for years without providing alternative accommodation seem to deserve to be reconsidered.