ISLAMABAD    -    The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Fri­day sought reply from members of the National Assembly Special Com­mittee on Affected Employees, in a contempt petition filed by the EOBI alleging unlawful interference in an executive matter. A single bench of the IHC comprising Chief Justice of IHC Jus­tice Aamer Farooq issued the notices while hearing a contempt of court peti­tion moved by the Employees Old-Age Benefit Institution (EOBI) through its counsel Barrister Umer Ijaz Gillani.

During the hearing, counsel for EOBI submitted before the Court that the National Assembly Committee’s decision to issue show-cause no­tice to the institution’s chairperson amounts to a clear contempt of the court. He maintained that the EOBI is a statutory body which is under an obligation to comply with its own statute; it cannot meet the political demands being made to it. 

The petitioner stated that separa­tion of powers between the legisla­tive and executive branches of the state is a fundamental tenet of our Constitution; if this principle is not honored, no institution would be able to perform its statutory roles.

After hearing the preliminary argu­ments, the IHC Chief Justice admitted the contempt petition for hearing and sought written comments from all the respondents within a fortnight. Later, the bench deferred the hearing till February 23 for further proceedings.

In the petition, the EOBI alleged that the committee is trying to exert unlawful pressure on the statutory body to reinstate 358 terminated em­ployees, who were terminated upon the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2014 and whose Review Petition had also been dismissed. 

The Special Committee’s Chair­person Qadir Mandokhail, its Sec­retary Tahir Farooq and 11 other Committee Members have been arrayed as respondents in the con­tempt petition filed by EOBI through Barrister Umer Ijaz Gilani. The peti­tion said that the background of the case is that back in 2014, EOBI had terminated the services of some 358 employees on the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. This termination was challenged by the terminated employees but was up­held by the courts all the way to the Supreme Court which settled the matter in 2016. However, recently, a National Assembly Special Commit­tee on Affected Employees has been set up. It added that the Special Committee, which actually can give its recommendations as per rules, has been holding meetings with the Federal Ministries and Heads of Statutory Bodies and issuing di­rectives for reinstatement of earlier terminated employees.