The Supreme Court on Monday, setting aside the judgement of the Federal Service Tribunal, accepted the appeals of Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation (PMDC) against more than 100 employees.
The PMDC had retrenched 101 employees due to economic crisis, however, the Federal Service Tribunal had reinstated them.
The Supreme Court bench comprised Chief Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui, Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar and Justice Faqeer Muhammad Khokhar.
Advocate Saleem Zulfiqar, presenting arguments, contended before the court submitted that the Corporation was in the grip of serious economic crisis and there was no production.
He contended that from the year 1985 to 1997, the Corporation had to face a huge loss of Rs 99.2 million.
He argued the employees were sacked following the labour laws. He said the Corporation's strength was of 600 employees, however, only 101 employees were retrenched.
Earlier, advocate Syed Qalbul Hassan, appearing for the employees, contended that the practice of pick and choose was adopted in the retrenchment process. He also contended that the claim of PMDC regarding change of system was mala fide.
He said several employees were not given service benefits.
After hearing both the sides, the court accepted the PMDC appeals for regular hearing and set aside the FST verdict. The next date for hearing to be fixed later.