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Former PTC Employees are Non-Statutory “Workmen” who must seek redress under Labor Laws, whereas Former T&T Department Employees retain Statutory Protection of their service rights under the 1996 Re-Organization Act --- Lahore High Court, Lahore

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Islamabad 24-03-2025: The Lahore High Court has rendered a significant judgment in a batch of Constitutional Petitions led by Asghar Ali Vs. PTCL & Others [W.P. No.10380 of 2012], categorically distinguishing between two classes of former telecommunication employees regarding the protection of their service rights after the corporatization of Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation (PTC) into PTCL.

Mr. Justice Shahid Karim, authoring the judgment, divided the petitioners into two sets: former PTC employees (Appendix A) and former Telephone & Telegraph (T&T) Department employees (Appendix B). The Court held that the former PTC employees, not governed by statutory service rules, were workmen within the meaning of labor laws and thus could not seek constitutional remedies under Article 199. Their petitions were accordingly dismissed.

However, in a landmark reaffirmation of precedent, the Court allowed the petitions of former T&T Department employees, citing that their statutory service rights were protected under Sections 35 and 36 of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-Organization) Act, 1996. The Court relied heavily on the Supreme Court’s judgments in “Masood Ahmed Bhatti” (2012 SCMR 152) and PTCL Vs. Masood Ahmed Bhatti (2016 SCMR 1362), declaring that these employees could only be proceeded against under the Civil Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules, 1973.

The Court set aside the impugned termination and disciplinary actions against the T&T employees, reaffirming their right to constitutional protection of service terms despite PTCL’s corporatized structure.