F.P. Report
PESHAWAR: A division bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) headed by Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Naeem Anwar on Wednesday suspended the decision of KP government increasing retirement age of government employees from 60 to 63.
The bench announced a short judgment after conclusion of arguments by council for defence and prosecution represented by Advocate General Shumail Ahmad Butt.
The court ruled that the KP has been made experimental laboratory adding that Punjab province and the Centre did not implement the decision increasing retirement age of the employees.
The court further ruled that former KP Chief Secretary Saleem Khan had also raised serious objection over the government’s decision in this regard and mentioned the same in his summery to the government.
The Advocate General told the court that the provincial government has the power to increase the retirement age of employees. He argued that the decision would lessen financial burden on the province besides increasing volume of development programs. He further told the court that after three years the situation will be become normal.
The councils for petitioners Advocate Muazam Butt, Noor Alam Khan and Malik Zahirudidn in their arguments maintained that 1,23000 government posts are vacant which could not be filled due to rise in the retirement age by the government from 60 to 63 years.
In all nine writ petition were filled in PHC against the KP government decision by Qaiser Khan, Shabina Noor, Azizullah Khan, Sultanur Rehman, Fatima Malik, Dr Muhmmad Naeem Arbab, Abdul Ghaffar, Ijaz Hussain and Muhammad Ajmal Wazir. The petitioners had made the KP government as responded in the case.
Its merit mentioned here that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly had passed an amendment bill in July last year to increase the retirement age of employees from 60 years to 63 years.
The opposition had rejected the bill arguing that the law is being amended to facilitate a small number of officials, who are on the verge of retirement.
