| Citation(s) |
|---|
| 2026 SLD 3398 = 2026 PLC 202 |
C.P.L.A. No. 4444/2023 (against the order dated 24.10.2023, passed by the Islamabad High Court, Islamabad in W.P. No. 1980/2022)
Presented By: Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi Justice Muhammad Karim Khan Agha Justice Rozi Khan Barrech
For the Petitioner(s) : Mr. Shahid Anwar Bajwa, ASC alongwith Mr. Salman Zafar, EVP (Legal), Mr. Raheel Zafar, GM (Legal) and Mr. Nauman Ahmad, Manager (Legal) For the
Respondent(s) : N.R. Date of Hearing : 03.06.2026
Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd, ..…Petitioner(s) Islamabad through its G.M.
VERSUS
Abdul Ghafoor and others .…Respondent(s)
Law: Constitution of Pakistan, 1973
Section: 185(3)
Law: Punjab Industrial Relations Act, 2010
Section: 37
This is a judgment of Pakistan’s newly created Federal Constitutional Court (established by the Constitution (Twenty-Seventh Amendment) Act, 2025), heard under its appellate jurisdiction under Article 185(3) of the 1973 Constitution . The Court refused leave to appeal and dismissed Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd.’s (PTCL) petition, thereby upholding the Islamabad High Court’s decision that confirmed orders of the National Industrial Relations Commission (NIRC) which treated a long-serving telephone operator as a permanent workman entitled to all benefits of permanent status from the date of his original appointment .
Core issue
The dispute was whether Abdul Ghafoor, employed by PTCL on 28 July 1992 as a “Telephone Operator” allegedly on a temporary basis, was legally a temporary workman or a permanent workman under the Industrial and Commercial Employment (Standing Orders) Ordinance, 1968 .
Legal framework applied
The Court relied on Clause I of the Schedule to the Standing Orders: