The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed all appeals against the issue of 7th Wage Board Award upholding a decision of the Sindh High Court. A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Tariq Parvez and Justice Ghulam Rabbani announced its verdict in the open Court.
The Chief Justice announcing the verdict said that the decision of the Sindh High Court would hold the field unless modifications to Newspaper Employees (Condition of Service) Act 1973 (NECoSA) were made. The pleas were dismissed with costs. The bench had reserved its judgment on September 29 after conclusion of arguments by the parties. The petitions were moved by a number of newspaper employers challenging the vires of the Newspaper Employees (Condition of Service) Act 1973 under which the wage awards were constituted, besides, praying for setting aside the May 31, 2011 Sindh High Court (SHC) verdict of upholding the 7th Wage Board Award. These petitions were filed by All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), Messers Independent Newspapers Corporation (Pvt) Limited, Messers Pakistan Heralds Publications, Messers Nadai Millat (Private) Limited, Messers Kawaish Publications (Pvt) Limited, News Publication (Pvt) Limited, Messers J & S Enterprises (Pvt) Limited, Messers The Nation Publications (Pvt) Ltd, Messers Ibrat (Pvt) Ltd, Messers Emmay Zed Publications (Pvt) Limited, Messers Zamana Group of Publications, Pir Sufaid Shah Hamdard, Aghaz Publications (Pvt) Ltd and Marvi Publications.