A three-member bench of the Federal Services Tribunal (FST) has declared that legal heirs of a civil servant would be eligible to plead cases of their deceased parents as parties, if they died while cases involving them regarding financial benefits were still pending.
The bench, headed by FST Chairman Justice (r) Sheikh Ahmed Farooq and comprising two other members, Kazi Afaq Hossain and Syed Nasir Ali Shah, heard a number of different appeals related to question of whether the appeals filed by the civil servants during their life time would abate on their death or their legal heirs, who are not civil servants, could legally pursue them.
The 11-page detailed unanimous decision was authored by FST Chairman Justice (r) Sheikh Ahmed Farooq.
A number of petitions relating to the issue had been filed by employees of various departments like National Bank of Pakistan, Post Office, GHQ, National Highway and Motorway Police, Pakistan Railways and Controller General of Accounts.
The bench heard detailed arguments of different counsels who appeared before the bench on behalf of the petitioners and respondents.
Some civil servants had filed petitions regarding their service matters and financial benefits (during service and after retirement). However, some of the petitioners died while their cases were still pending.
The bench decided that legal heirs of deceased parents would be eligible to plead their pending cases which entailed financial benefits inheritable by the legal heirs of the civil servant upon their death.
The bench accepted all the petitions involving cases of civil servants regarding financial benefits.
However, the bench dismissed all petitions involving merely official matters other than financial matters like absorption and consequent repatriation, declaring them personal grievances of the civil servants that could not trickle down to their legal heirs.
