ISLAMABAD: The matters of the National Industrial Relation Commission (NIRC), an attached department of the Ministry of Overseas Pakistan and Human Resource Development, are suffering due to ad-hoc decision-making for the last many years, it has been learnt reliably.
Officials told this scribe that the matters of the commission were uncertain due to non-appointment of the registrar, joint trade union and administrative officer for the last many years. The work load of the commission increased many fold after the 18 Amendment as the litigation related to trans-provincial establishment transferred to NIRC subsequently, the federal government had created three posts of the member of the registrar of the trade union along with sporting staff in 2014.
They said that the government has not appointed the registrar of the trade unions and the joint registrar despite framing rules, in addition to this, important matters of the registration of the trade unions is being dealt with by ad-hoc officers, who due to less experience in the field unable to render decision, resulting unrest among the parties and the volume of litigation increasing.
Furthermore, the post of the administrative officer is lying vacant since January 2013, and things are being run by the irrelevant persons by way of deputation and additional charge despite the availability of the eligible persons in promotion channel. In addition, they said that some posts of the members are in BS-20 and BS-21 and due to said discrimination some members filing petitions.
The members including chairman are entitled for the judiciary allowance and other privileges as provided officers in other judicial forums but the staff of the commission has been deprived of these allowance. The post of the registrar and the deputy registrar in other departments are BS 20/21 and BS 18/19 respectively but in the NIRC, the post of the registrar is in BS-19 and the deputy registrars in BS-17.
Similarly, the post of reader is in BS-11 while in other judicial forums this post is in BS 16/17 and 18. In addition to this, no specific rule for the post of bailiff has been framing. The officials said that a large number of appeals case relates to the trans-provincial establishment transferred from the labour appellate tribunals which due to some reason are pending and the litigants are suffering badly.
It is pertinent to mention here that nine full members are working in the commission including chairman and one post of the member is vacant since May 22, 2018, as Salim Jan Khan, a member of the Sukkhar Bench, had relinquished the office on expiry of his contract appointment.
The case of the appointment of the NIRC chairman is pending in IHC as the petitioner took the stance that the government had not taken the approval of his appointment from the cabinet, they said that the appointment of any retired judge of the superior court is against the spirit of the national judicial policy as the post of the chairman is neither constitutional nor statutory.
Talking to Pakistan Today, spokesperson for the Ministry of Overseas Pakistan stated that the ministry cannot send the summary of the appointment of any member or chairman to the cabinet because the caretaker government has not any authority to make the decision.
