ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday dismissed a petition of seven top officials of the Pakistan Television (PTV) who were sacked by newly-appointed PTV chairman Naeem Bokhari.

Petitioners Khawar Azhar, Qatrina Hosain, Asim Baig, Nasir Abbas, Nasir Abbas Naqvi, retired Col Nadeem Niazi, Mohammad Tahir Mushtaq and Khurram Anwar had challenged the termination of their employment contracts.

IHC’s Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb observed that since the Supreme Court had already held that the Employees Service Rules were “non statutory”, therefore he “cannot take a view different from the one taken by the Honourable Supreme Court regarding the maintainability of a writ petition filed by an employee of the Pakistan Television Corpora­tion with respect to a matter regarding his/her service”.

He said that “the superior courts have held time and again that a writ petition is not maintainable; it is inappropriate to give a finding or an observation on the merits of the case”.

Petitioners’ counsel Kha­waja Muhammad Farooq informed the court that the PTV engaged services of his clients on contract on the basis of their qualification and rich experience and their salaries were commensurate with the services performed by them.

He told the court that PTV had adopted a policy of pick and choose while terminating services of employees with salaries of more than Rs350,000 per month and the managing director was not associated in the decision-making process for the termination of the petitioners’ services.

PTV’s counsel Nazir Jawad on the other hand claimed that the petitioners were dismissed strictly in accordance with terms and conditions set out in their letters of appointment.

He further said that the PTV did not have any statutory service rules, adding that even otherwise a contract employee whose services had been terminated could not invoke the constitutional jurisdiction of the high court for the reinstatement of his/her service.

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2020