The Supreme Court (SC) Tuesday adjourned the hearing of 7th Wage Board Award case till September 20 with directives to Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) and other respondents to appear before the bench and participate in day-to-day hearing of the case.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Justice Ghulam Rabbani has been hearing three Civil Petitions for Leave to Appeal (CPLA), filed by the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) and others against Sindh High Court (SHC) decision on the validity of 7th Wage Board Award.
On May 31 of 2011, a division Bench of SHC rejected three different constitutional petitions, filed by the APNS and the media houses, challenging the vires of the Newspapers Employees (Conditions of Service) Act 1973. The 7th Wage Board Award and Powers of the Implementation Tribunal for Newspaper Employees declared that the Award is binding on the newspapers owners. The SHC judgement directed the newspaper owners to implement the 7th Award for newspaper employees.
Abdual Hafeez Pirzada represented the APNS and the media houses while Salman Akram Raja appeared for PFUJ. While addressing Abdul Hafeez Pirzada the Chief Justice remarked: "Convey the media Seths that media people are part and parcel of their organisations so in the present democratic regime they should enforce the Wage Board Award". Seeking adjournment, Pirzada argued that following the passage of the 18th Amendment in the Constitution of Pakistan had perhaps killed the possibility of Wage Board Award, adding that the point needed further discussion. Salman Akram Raja submitted that despite the passage of 12 years the 7th Wage Award had not been enforced, adding that newspaper workers' salaries had not increased for more than a decade. The CJP said that the case would be heard on a regular basis from the next date of hearing and adjourned the proceedings till Sep 20.