Pakistan Supreme Court: The Bench of Gulzar Ahmed, Faisal Arab and Ijaz UL Ahsan, JJ., dismissed the petition filed against a Judgment of the Lahore High Court through which the appeal filed by the petitioner regarding the termination of his services was dismissed.
The facts of the case were that the petitioner was appointed as an ECG Technician in District Headquarters Hospital, Rawalpindi in 2005 on a contract basis. In 2009, his services were terminated. He challenged his termination through a representation which was not decided. He, therefore, approached the High Court in its constitutional jurisdiction. The High Court directed the respondents to decide the petitioner’s representation. This was dismissed by the departmental authority. The petitioner challenged the said order which was allowed. The respondents, feeling aggrieved, challenged the said judgment through two separate Intra Court Appeals which were allowed; the above facts raised the current contention. The Counsel for the petitioner, Sardar Abdul Raziq Khan and Syed Rafaqat Hussain Shah submitted that the Division Bench of the High Court fell in error in reversing the findings of the Single Judge in a mechanical manner, ICA filed by the Rawalpindi Medical College , which was neither a party to the proceedings nor directly aggrieved of the order, was not competent and the ICA filed by the Government of Punjab was barred by time and the Division Bench erred in law in entertaining the appeals. The respondents defended this by raising the point of law that if two appeals against the same impugned judgment are filed, one of which is within time, the other appeal should also be entertained and decided on merit rather than being dismissed on technical grounds.
The Court held that the appeal filed by the RMC was within time and even if the appeal filed by the Government of Punjab was barred by time, the Division Bench had a legal basis and lawful justification to entertain and decide both appeals on merits. Further, the Court found that the order of petitioner’s appointment was void and no period of limitation runs against a void order. The second issue that was considered was that the dispute between the parties related to contract employment. The Court stated that it is settled law that a contract employee is debarred from approaching the High Court in its constitutional jurisdiction. The only remedy available to a contract employee is to file a suit for damages alleging breach of contract or failure to extend the contract. Therefore, it was held that the petitioner approached the wrong forum in the first place and the Single Judge had exceeded his jurisdiction by interfering in a purely contractual matter. The appeal was thus dismissed. [Qazi Munir Ahmed v. Rawalpindi Medical College and Allied Hospital, 2019 SCC OnLine Pak SC 3, Order dated 06-03-2019]
