SC to decide KP contract employees' case for regularization

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that instead of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) it will decide Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa contract employees' case for regularization. A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, heard the chairman KP Workers Welfare Board (WWB), Peshawar, appeal against the PHC order dated 17th February, 2020.

The chief justice ordered the SC office to fix the petitions pending before it regarding contractual employment of KPWWB, so they are decided first and adjourned the case sine die. "Until such petitions are decided, the matter before the PHC will remain suspended."

The chairman WWB had filed an application in the PHC for constitution of larger bench to decide the matter pertaining to regularisation of contract teachers was involved. However, the high court dismissed it.

He, therefore, approached the Supreme Court. Khawaja Azhar Rasheed representing the chairman contended that the said application was moved on the strength of the apex court judgement in CP-4504 to 4588 and 4589/2007, in "Naimatullah vs WWB and others".

It has been held by the apex court that contract employees have no right to file writ petitions in the high court praying for regularization especially when there is no law available to such effect, he added. Azhar informed that the PHC had rendered a number of judgments, which sometimes follow Naimatullah's judgment, while on numerous occasions, the same had been ignored.

He said therefore they had filed an application before the PHC for constitution of larger bench to resolve the issue and decide the matter once and for all. The chief justice PHC, however, dismissed it on February 17, 2020.

The counsel argued that the impugned order had been passed in great haste in as much, it had failed to notice that a number of petitions had been decided in contravention of the ratio laid down in Naimatullah vs Workers case.

Azhar submitted that the observation made in the impugned order that no decision had been made by the PHC ignoring the ratio of Naimatullah's judgment, was not tenable in view of the judgments rendered in writ petitions no 4426/2018, 791-P/2019 and 6708-P/2018, all decided on November 21, 2019.

He stated all the writ petitions were in conflict with the judgment of the apex court in Naimatullah's case. He argued that the impugned order was perverse and resulted in multiplication of litigation on a settled point of law, wherein conflicting judgments were rendered everyday on the question that contract employees could not be regularized in constitution jurisdiction of high court.