NIRC, labour courts must speed up case disposal: SC

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court said that serious efforts be made by the Labour Courts, Labour Appellate Tribunals and the National Industrial Relations Commission (NIRC) for early and expeditious disposal of labour cases, both at original and appellate stage.The judgment authored by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar noted that the dismissed or terminated employee/workman cannot afford the luxury of prolonged litigation due to limited or meager resources.It said that the intention of the legislature was to ensure expeditious and timely justice in the industrial relations disputes rather than protracting it for an unlimited period of time in the impression and anticipation that if the employee is reinstated in service, he may have the prospect of back benefits.SC says high courts do not have suo motu jurisdictionThe judgment further noted that delay in deciding the case of terminated or dismissed labour/employee becomes the constant source of glitches and miseries, especially when he is unemployed after termination or dismissal of his services or if he is not gainfully employed for his and his family’s livelihood.A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Aminud Din Khan and comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Irfan Saadat Khan decide the matter on an appeal against the Lahore High Court (LHC)’s judgment dated 27.04.2016.The judgment said that Section 25-A of repealed Industrial Relations Ordinance, 1969, laid much emphasis on the principle that the Labour Court should decide the grievance petition within seven days from the date of the matter being brought before it as if such matter were an industrial dispute. It observed that the Industrial Relations Act, 2012, again recapitulated that for the decision in the individual grievance petition, if the employer fails to communicate a decision within the period specified or if the worker is dissatisfied with such decision, the worker or the shop steward may take the matter to his collective bargaining agent or to the Commission or, as the case may be, the collective bargaining agent may take the matter to the Commission, and where the matter is taken to the Commission, it shall give a decision within seven days from the date of the matter being brought before it as if such matter were an industrial dispute. What it demonstrates is that the legislature included a provision even in the 2012 Act stipulating that matters should be decided within seven days.The judgment said that while the Punjab Industrial Relations Act, 2010, does not explicitly state seven days, it has fixed a period of 90 days from the date of the matter being brought before it as if such matter was an industrial dispute. In the same analogy, the Sindh Industrial Relations Act, 2013, is not dissimilar but it also encompasses a timetable for making a decision within ninety days.Whereas, in the Baluchistan Industrial Relations Act, 2010, and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Industrial Relations Act, 2010, the lawmakers of both the provinces adopted the previous timeline as embodied in the repealed IRO 1969 with the same language that where the matter is taken to the Labour Court, it shall give a decision within seven days from the date of the matter being brought before it as if such matter were an industrial dispute.The comprehensive evaluation of the aforesaid provisions metes out the legislative intent unmistakably that labour cases must be decided quickly and without delay. “At least in our experience, we have never come across any grievance petition which was decided by the Labour Court or NIRC within seven days.”Copyright Business Recorder, 2024