PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has ordered reinstatement of around 100 retired personnel of Malakand Levies in the light of a law providing for restoration of personnel retired between March and November 2021.

A two-member bench consisting of Justice Mohammad Naeem Anwar and Justice Mohammad Ijaz Khan accepted two almost identical petitions filed by the retired personnel of Levies from Dir Lower and Malakand districts, requesting the court to set aside different retirement orders issued by the government in March 2021.

The petitioners requested the court to order their reinstatement and declared them entitled to complete their service till reaching 60 years of age.

The petitioners, who had served as sepoy, lance naik, naik and havaldar, were retired through different orders on March 25, 2021.

Bench issues verdict in light of law passed by KP Assembly

Barrister Dr Adnan Khan represented the petitioners and stated that the relevant rules, governing the service of the Levies Force, were amended in March 23, 2021, and certain changes were made in the existing retirement age for the personnel.

He said that as per schedule III of the amended rules, the personnel serving as hawaldar would retire on reaching 31 years of service or attaining 51 years of age; naik would retire with 29 years of service or 48 years of age; lance naik would retire with 27 years of service of 45 years of age and sepoy would retire with 25 years of service or 42 years of age, whichever was earlier.

Relying on the said rules, he said the petitioners were retired from service on reaching certain age or completing certain length of service.

Barrister Adnan stated that after retirement of his clients, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly passed Provincially Administered Tribal Areas Levies Force (Amendment) Act, 2021, whereby certain employees of the force, who had retired during the period March 22, 2021 till the commencement of the Act on November 30, 2021, and had not crossed the prescribed upper age limit, should be reinstated in service.

However, he stated that the benefit of the said Act had not been extended to the petitioners, therefore, they approached court. He argued that since the petitioners had retired within the bracket period as provided under the Act of 2021, therefore, they were entitled for its benefits.

The bench observed that there was no dispute amongst the parties that the petitioners retired on March 25, 2021, as by then they had attained the age prescribed in the Federal Levies Services (Amended) Rules.

The bench observed that through the Act, changes were made in the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas Levies Force Regulation, 2012, and a new section 11 was included in it.

Quoting section 11, the bench observed that the language of the amendment Act of 2021 was clear in its meaning about its applicability as well as the class of employees to whom its benefit could be extended.

The bench ruled that the Act stipulated that all Levies personnel, who retired with effect from March 22, 2021 till the commencement of the Act i.e November 30, 2021, should be reinstated in the force as regular employees with effect from their respective dates of retirement and they should be deemed as never retired from the force.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2022