KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday directed the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) to clear all outstanding dues of over 850 of its retired employees within a month.
This was decided on the plea of Syed Umar Baqi and 850 other workers seeking payment of their outstanding dues i.e. gratuities, leaves encashment and provident funds since May 2013.
According to the petitioners’ counsel Haseeb Jamali, PSM had been unable to pay the retired employees their pension benefits and other dues despite the court’s orders.
The PSM lawyer had earlier told the court that the company had no funds left in its gratuity and provident fund accounts and hence was unable to clear the outstanding dues of the petitioners.
He further said that Rs3.429 billion is still due to be released by the government in order for the company to clear the outstanding dues of the retired workers, adding that the PSM was in touch with the Ministry of Industries & Production to resolve this issue.
The counsel of the ministry of industries, production and finance did not appear despite the court’s notice.
The court directed the PSM to clear all outstanding dues of the retired workers and submit a compliance report latest by December 7.
