Supreme Court on Wednesday asked Attorney General for Pakistan to submit response over the government's action to enhance the existing amount of pension which retired employees are drawing at the moment from Employees Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI).
A two-member bench led by Justice Azmat Saeed Sheikh issued the directives while hearing identical pleas of retired employees seeking enhancement of pensions. During the course of proceedings, Justice Azmat Saeed Sheikh observed as to why more than 400,000 retired employees are facing issue of raise in pension and questioned whether these employees are not responsibility of the state.
Appearing before the bench, Federal Secretary Finance Tariq Bajwa submitted that due to a clerical mistake, notification for funds in the current matter was wrongly interpreted, saying the mistake would be removed at the earliest. Expressing dismay over the information, Justice Azmat Saeed Sheikh observed as to why the government stopped to give raise of 50 per cent to pensioners after the year of 1995, adding that the apex court had announced order in the case during the year 2015 and now the federal secretary finance is pointing out a clerical mistake.
The bench asked the secretary finance to resolve the issue, saying the federal government is the only forum which can provide remedy to the pensioners. Justice Azmat Saeed Sheikh hinted at initiating contempt proceedings against the federal secretary finance if the government fails to address the issue in hand. Later, the bench adjourned the hearing of the matter till June 14.