Larger bench to hear APNS petition
ISLAMABAD- The Supreme Court on April 01, 2003 again adjourned the petition of All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) against validity of Seventh Journalists Wage Board Award and the law under which the Board was created, saying the case should be heard by a larger bench.
The lawyers said that a five-member special bench before which the validity of the 6th Wage Board Award was questioned had thrown out a similar petition, and stressed the need for appointment of a larger bench.
At the outset, when Chief Justice Sheikh Riaz Ahmed, Justice Mian Muhammad Ajmal and Justice Muhammad Abbasi took up the petition, Attorney-General Makhdoom Ali Khan took the rostrum and expressed his inability to represent the Federation in the case.
He told the Court that he had appeared on behalf of the newspaper owners against the 6th Wage Board Award and was also consulted when the 7th Wage Board under Justice Afrasiab Khan was constituted.
In such a situation, Makhdoom Ali Khan said, he would be unable to appear in the hearings.
Although the Chief Justice assured him that since the Attorney-General was required to speak on the academic side of the question the Judges would not doubt his impartiality and would not mind his appearance for the Federation, Makhdoom remained insistent on his feeling and, thanking the Judges for their confidence in him, said his conscience would not allow him to appear for any of the parties to the case.
The Bench, therefore, instructed his deputy, Hafiz S A Rahman, to represent the federal government in the matter when the hearing opens on April 23, the date the Court fixed after consultation with lawyers from the media owners and the newspaper workers.
The Judges also accepted the suggestion of Abdul Hafeez Pirzada that since the petition questioned a vital point about the validity of an Act passed by the Parliament, the Federation should be asked to explain its position in writing about the matter.
While asking the DAG for written comments on the petition filed by Pirzada, the Judges also issued notices to the Advocates-General of Sindh and the Punjab to be available at the next hearing.
The objection to the admissibility of the APNS petition was raised by Muhammad Akram Sheikh appearing for one of the trade unions of newspaper workers but was met, head on, by Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, saying that Justice Munir A Sheikh had accepted the case for hearing.
In case any party had an objection to the validity of the single Bench order, it should go into appeal against it.
He also briefly questioned the locus standi of the counsel for newspaper workers, saying that APNS had not made them a party to the case, hence no notice was served on them.
These remarks generated some heat when Akram expressed his disapproval of the remarks, saying that he represented an interested party in the matter and had the right to question the maintainability of the petition.
The counsel for another trade union, Abid Hassan Manto, was present in the premises of the Supreme Court but was appearing before another bench arguing the reinstatement of the retrenched employees of Sui Southern Gas Company. So, Akram had to fend the argument alone.
A large number of journalists, newspaper workers and trade union leaders who had come from Quetta, Lahore and Peshawar were also present in the court room.
Afzal Siddiqui assisted Abdul Hafeez Pirzada while Akram Sheikh appeared with Gohar Ali Shah.
According to an APNS press release, APNS President Arif Nizami, Senior Vice President Syed Fasih Iqbal, Secretary General Mohammad Aslam Qazi, Mujeeb-ur-Rehman Shami, president, CPNE, Shakil Masood and Zena Sehgal (Dawn), Pir Sufaid Shah Hamdard (Wahdat), Suleman Ahmad (Jang), Khushnood Ali Khan (Sahafat), Senator Syed Sajjad Bukhari (Masawat), Javed Mehr Shamsi (Kaleem), and Dr Tanvir A. Tahir, executive director, APNS, were present in the Supreme Court, representing the employers.
Source: Business Recorder
Date:4/2/2003
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