Chairing a meeting held the Civil Secretariat here on Friday, Provincial Minister for Industries, Commerce and Investment (ICI) Sheikh Alauddin directed department officials to call the owner of the factory which collapsed at the Sundar Industrial Estates in 2015 along with the families of those who died to the next meeting to settle the issue of their compensation.
Punjab Advocate General Shakil-ur-Rehman Khan briefed the house about the legal provisions as envisaged in the Workmen Compensation Act, 1923, with particular reference to the payment of compensation to the affectees of such incidents.
He also intimated that a wide scope of making payments to the affectees as compensation occurred in the act. The minister said, “So, under the said provisions, all remaining amounts in this case must be paid by the legal heirs of the owner.” He reminded the meeting that the Lahore High Court had issued orders during the course of the previous hearing that the petitioner/legal heirs along-with his counsel may be listened to in person before taking any decision to this effect was made by the committee.
The meeting was also attended by ICI Secretary Dr Mujtaba Piracha, Labour Secretary Dr Shoaib Akbar and Punjab Industrial Estates Development and Management Company (PIEDMC) CEO Iftikhar Hussain, among others.
