ISLAMABAD: The employees of the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE), including teachers, affected by the recent Supreme Court (SC) verdict declaring the Sacked Employees (Reinstatement) Ordinance Act (SERA) 2010 illegal have decided to file an appeal against the verdict in the apex court.

The decision was made by the affected employees at a meeting held at Jasmine Garden on Sunday.

The meeting was also attended by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) member Syed Sibte Haider Bokhari.

Mr Bokhari said the PPP government had provided livelihood to these employees by restoring them through an act. He said after consulting senior lawyers of the Supreme Court, they would go for a “legal fight” to get the law restored. He assured the affected employees that the People’s Lawyer Forum, the legal wing of the PPP, would provide all kinds of assistance to them.

The president of the Sacked Employees Welfare Association, Raja Tassaduq Khayyam, said thousands of people would be rendered jobless as a result of the court’s verdict. He declared that they would go for a “political and legal fight” to get the law restored.

Apex court had declared PPP-era Sacked Employees (Reinstatement) Ordinance Act illegal

The PPP had already asked the Supreme Court to review its verdict in view of the financial problems which thousands of employees could face after its implementation.

PPP secretary general Nayyar Bokhari, while expressing his concerns over the verdict, had stated it would create financial problems for thousands of employees who were already suffering due to inflation and the Covid-19 pandemic.

The three-judge bench, consisting of Justice Mushir Alam, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Munib Akhtar, had on Tuesday declared illegal and unconstitutional the PPP-era law - SERA 2010 - under which a number of people had been employed or given promotions. As a result of the declaration in a 42-page judgement, any benefit that accrued to the beneficiaries has ceased with immediate effect.

The verdict, authored by Justice Mushir Alam on his last day in the office, says that it is the duty of the Supreme Court to safeguard the rights and interests of citizens since the constitutional rights of the employees who have invested decades of their lifetime into the service of the country have been violated outright through the 2010 Act.

The judgement explained that the case at hand involved a number of groups in which appellants/petitioners had challenged the appointments/promotions under the SERA 2010. The verdict divided the groups into further categories like those who were regular employees of organisations and departments or their seniority was affected by the employees inducted under SERA or those who were extended the benefit of the Act.

The judgement, however, explained that the cases of employees who had retired or passed away were past and closed transactions and, therefore, the court did not find it appropriate to interfere in their cases as it would be an exercise in futility.

Likewise, the beneficiaries of the Act who were still in service would go back to their previous positions i.e. to the date when the operation of the Act had taken effect, the judgement said, adding it would be inequitable to reverse any monetary benefits received by them under SERA for the period they had served.

Therefore, the verdict said, such benefits would remain intact as they were granted against service but the lump sum received by such sacked employees upon reinstatement would be reversed.

The verdict said SERA had extended undue advantage to a certain class of citizens, thereby violating the fundamental rights under Articles 4, 9 and 25 and being void under Article 8 of the Constitution.

Defending the PPP government’s decision to enforce the law, Mr Bokhari had said through SERA, the PPP had provided economic relief to those employees who had been forcefully sacked from various institutions and departments by the successive governments during 1996 and 2007.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2021