A Supreme Court bench headed by chief justice Gulzar Ahmed raised many serious questions over Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) divestment plan and retrenchment of workers and warned the government of its serious repercussions.
The bench in the very start of the hearing asked the Attorney General why the government was not showing seriousness in the case of PSM sell-off. The chief Justice observed that the management wanted to create mess by implementing a flawed strategy getting rid of its thousands of skilled workers. The chief justice asked from the Attorney General who would be responsible if the government plan brings backlash of retrenchment of regular employees of the mills and create disastrous situation in the country. Will you (the management) will hire the employees again when its half-cooked plan will crash?, the chief justice asked from the Attorney General. He noted that the government’s ill-plan strategy for PSM will result in swarming of thousands of cases in the courts.
Why the government was not taking this important issue directly linked the bread and butter of thousands of regular employees seriously, the chief justice questioned the lawyer of the management of the mills. The court showed utter disappointment over the retrenchment of thousands of PSM worker without putting in place a well-thought future strategy.
Justice Ejazul Ahsan noted that currently 320 cases of PSM were bending before the high courts and another 29 cases were pending before the apex court.
Finally, the court directed the government to present a comprehensive report on PSM current situation in the next hearing and adjourn the cases for four weeks.
PSM is retrenching 9350 regular employees. The federal cabinet and Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) have already endorsed the government plan.