ISLAMABAD: The Federal Constitutional Court has declared pensions and pension-related benefits to be the legitimate fundamental legal right of retired employees, ruling that such entitlements cannot be withheld without an order from a competent court.
The nine-page written judgment, authored by Justice Arshad Hussain, states that pensions and retirement benefits cannot be stopped unless authorized by a competent court. The court further held that unnecessary delays in the payment of pensions constitute a violation of the law and may amount to contempt of court.
According to the judgment, if no appeal or review petition is filed within the prescribed time against a court order, the decision attains finality. It added that a review petition filed after the prescribed period cannot later be challenged through a constitutional petition.
The Federal Constitutional Court also directed the implementation of the Labour Court’s decision ordering the reinstatement of Muhammad Akram, a dismissed driver of a private bank, along with all his previous benefits.
The judgment observed that the failure to implement the Labour Court’s ruling even after 17 years was a matter of serious concern and described the prolonged delay in executing the decision as regrettable.
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