ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the four provinces and the Islamabad Capital Territory administration to come up with a clear stand on how much pension they intended to pay to workers under the Employees Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) scheme.

A three-judge bench headed by Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed made it clear that the existing pension rate at Rs5,250 per month was not acceptable.

The court ordered the labour secretaries of the provinces and the federal secretary of manpower and human resources development to appear before the court on April 24 when the case will be taken up again.

At the last hearing on March 6, the Supreme Court had taken exception to the transfer of huge funds from the EOBI to different departments at the behest of the federal government.

The court ordered the government to pay pensions of retired employees by returning the properties purchased on higher prices by the EOBI and return funds taken out of the institution immediately.

On Tuesday, the court was informed that the federal government had deposited Rs3.67 billion in the accounts of the EOBI, though another amount of Rs21.5m was still pending.

On March 15, the federal government had assured the court that it would return the funds to the EOBI which were earlier doled out to the Pakistan Bait-ul-Maal. Likewise, it said, an amount of Rs1.1bn, which had gone to the climate change ministry for flood and earthquake relief activities, would also be returned.

On Tuesday, the court expressed its annoyance when it was told that three cheques issued by different organisations had bounced.

The court ordered Advocate Shahzad Masood, who was representing Messers Nawaz Ahmed Minhas and Syed Farhan, that Rs250m and Rs36m, respectively, be paid back to the EOBI within four weeks through pay orders. The court made it clear that it was not interested in any kind of settlement other than funds.

The court also summoned Zia Altaf, chief executive of the Eden Housing Ltd, Faisalabad, because another cheque of Rs22m, issued on Nov 6, 2013, had bounced.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2018