IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN 
(APPELLATE JURISDICTION) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
PRESENT: 
 
 
 
 
 
MR. JUSTICE MIAN SAQIB NISAR 
 
 
 
 
 
MR. JUSTICE MUSHIR ALAM 
 
 
 
 
 
MR. JUSTICE MAQBOOL BAQAR 
 
 
CIVIL APPEAL NOS.1359 TO 1363 OF 2014 
(On appeal from the judgment dated 24.4.2014 of the 
Peshawar High Court, Abbottabad Bench passed in Writ 
Petitions No.276-A to 280-A/2014) 
 
Pir Imran Sajid 
 
 
 
 
      …in C.A.1359/2014 
Muhammad Saeed 
 
 
 
      …in C.A.1360/2014 
Muhammad Sajid Fariq  
 
 
      …in C.A.1361/2014 
Khaliq-ur-Rehman 
 
 
 
      …in C.A.1362/2014 
Atif Ali 
 
 
 
 
 
      …in C.A.1363/2014 
…Appellants  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
VERSUS 
 
Managing Director/General Manager (Manager Finance), 
Telephone Industries of Pakistan and others 
…Respondents 
(in all cases) 
… 
For the appellants: 
Hafiz S. A. Rehman, Sr. ASC 
Syed Rifaqat Hussain Shah, AOR 
 
For the respondents: 
Mr. Abdul Rehman Qadar, ASC 
 
 
 
 
Mr. Ahmed Nawaz Ch., AOR 
 
Date of hearing: 
 
18.5.2015 
… 
ORDER 
 
 
 
MAQBOOL BAQAR, J.- Leave to appeal in the above cases 
was granted by this Court, inter alia, to “examine whether despite the 
petitioners having remained in continuous service of the respondents 
for a period of one decade as contract employees, no vested rights were 
created in their favour for grant of relief of their regularization as laid 
down in the case of Province of Punjab v. Ahmad Hussain (2013 
SCMR 1547).” 
2. 
 
Relevant facts of the case, in brief, are that appellants in 
all the above appeals, except in CA No.1360 of 2014, were appointed in 
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the Telephone Industries of Pakistan (“TIP”) in various junior positions, 
in the year 2003, through due process and pursuant to the 
advertisements for such vacancies in a national newspaper, whereas 
the appellant in CA 1360 of 2014 was so appointed in the year 1992. 
Initially, all the appellants were appointed on a contract for one year, 
however, such appointment/employment was extended on year to year 
basis. Admittedly, ‘TIP’ a private limited company, is wholly owned, 
controlled, managed, and financed by the federal government. 
3. 
 
According to the appellants, their repeated requests for 
regularization did not find favour with the management of the 
company. Looking to the plight of the appellants and other 
contract/daily wages employees of TIP and various other ministries/ 
divisions/ attached departments/ autonomous bodies/ organizations 
etc., a cabinet sub-committee on regularization of such employees, 
under the directives of the Prime Minister of Pakistan, held a meeting 
on 21.2.2013, and after considering the recommendations of the 
Ministry of Information and Technology, under which ministry TIP 
functions, and after due deliberations, approved the regularization of 
773 contract and 109 daily wages employees of TIP, subject to 
availability of posts and fulfillment of recruitment criteria. Names of 
the appellants appear at the 9th page of the minutes of the meeting, 
(page 59 of the paper book). A copy of such minutes was forwarded by 
the Ministry of Information and Technology to the Managing Director 
TIP, for implementation, through letter dated 6.3.2013. Through Office 
Memorandum dated 05.6.2013, the said ministry requested the 
Managing Director TIP for regularization of the aforesaid 882 
employees in terms of the decision of the cabinet sub-committee, and 
also to submit a comprehensive plan for revitalization of TIP as 
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directed by the Priority Committee. However, MD TIP did not heed to 
the above and to the repeated requests made by the appellants for 
their regularization, from time to time. The appellants were thus 
constrained to file writ petitions before the learned Peshawar High 
Court. The petitions were, however, dismissed through the impugned 
order. 
4. 
 
At the very outset the learned counsel for the respondents 
submitted that the learned Peshawar High Court has rightly dismissed 
the petitions for the reasons; firstly that TIP is a private limited 
company, with no statutory service rules, and secondly that  the 
appellants were contract employees. He, however, conceded that TIP is 
wholly owned, controlled, managed and financed by the federal 
government and is performing functions in furtherance of the affairs of 
the federation.  
5. 
 
Keeping in view such status of the company, and the 
“Function Test” as prescribed and applied by a five member Bench of 
this Court in the case of Abdul Wahab and others v. HBL and others 
(2013 SCMR 1383), authored by one of us (Mian Saqib Nisar, J.), 
which test/criterion is fully meet in the present case, the status of TIP 
could not prevent the appellants from seeking constitutional remedy 
as the company clearly falls within the definition of a “person” as 
envisaged by Article 199 of the Constitution. The learned counsel for 
the respondents, in support of his second objection i.e. lack of 
statutory service rules, relied upon the judgment in the case of Fakhr-
ur-Islam Qureshi (Civil Appeal No.424 of 2009), authored by one of us 
(Mian Saqib Nisar, J.), whereby the said appeal was dismissed on the 
ground that relationship between the appellant, retired employee and 
TIP is not governed by statutory rules. Such reliance, in our view, is 
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wholly mis-placed for the reason, that unlike in the present case the 
appellants therein were seeking pensionary benefits on the basis of 
pensionary rules, which rules were non-statutory. Whereas in the 
present case, the appellants are seeking implementation of the 
directive of the Prime Minister of Pakistan and the decision of the 
cabinet sub-committee for their regularization sought to be enforced 
by the relevant ministry.  
6. 
 
Admittedly, all the appellants have been serving TIP in 
their respective position since about last more than twelve (12) years, 
though on contract basis, however, renewal of their contracts on year 
to year basis since the inception clearly shows that the nature of their 
jobs/duties is permanent and not casual or temporary, and that the 
appellants have been performing their functions/duties to the 
satisfaction of their employer and further that throughout the whole 
period their services were required, and have remained useful for and 
beneficial to the organization. There is no allegation of any misconduct 
or incompetence against the appellants, rather they have been granted 
increments from time to time. It has also not been, and indeed, in the 
facts and the circumstances of the case, could not have been, claimed 
that the posts held by the appellants and the work carried out by them 
was of a temporary nature. On record, are letters which show that 
services of some of those employed on temporary/contract basis have 
been regularized by the TIP from time to time. 
7. 
 
In the case of Province of Punjab v. Ahmad Hussain (2013 
SCMR 1547), cited in the leave granting order in the present case, the 
respondent/employee (Ahmed Hussain) was working as storekeeper 
with the PWD Department on work charge basis for more than 14 
years, the authority was, however, reluctant to regularize his services, 
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though some of his colleagues were regularized, this Court, whilst 
referring to the judgments in the cases of Province of Punjab v. Gul 
Hassan (1992 PLC 924), Punjab Seed Corporation v. Punjab Labour 
Appellate Tribunal (1996 SCMR 1947), Executive Engineer v. Abdul 
Aziz (PLD 1996 SC 610) and Secretary, Irrigation and Power 
Department Government of Punjab v. Mohammad Akhtar (2009 
SCMR 320), was pleased to uphold the judgment of the learned Lahore 
High Court, whereby an order of a single bench for regularization of 
the services of the employee (Ahmed Hussain) was upheld. The 
relevant portion of which judgment may be beneficial and is 
reproduced hereunder:- 
“(6) The job of respondent was that of storekeeper. The respondent 
keeps on keeping the store which has not ceased to exist. The job 
of a Storekeeper, Plumber, Electrician, Carpenter and Sweeper etc. 
are permanent jobs by their nature. These services as long the 
Punjab House at Islamabad exists, are needed by the department 
and the occupiers of the promises. These services are not to be 
performed for a day or a couple of days and then to be dispensed 
with. These services are needed as long the building department 
exists. It can safely be said that the nature of the jobs is 
permanent. The respondent employed in the year 1998 and fellow 
employees having been employed from almost the same time, have 
been performing their respective duties incessantly. These posts 
and the duties can by no stretch of imagination be taken to be of 
temporary nature. The length of the respondent’s service indicates 
and hints at the permanence of the posts. Even the work charge, 
casual and daily-wages workers, on account of the long 
continuation in service earn a presumption of regular need of their 
service obliging the authority to consider with a positive mind the 
necessity of the regularization of their service. It was so held by the 
august Supreme Court of Pakistan in (1996 SCMR 1947). The 
Federal Service Tribunal in Appeal No. 529(L)(C.S/2004) held that 
those continuously in service for more than 90 days in a Calendar 
year had attained the status of permanent workman by operation 
of the West Pakistan Standing Orders Ordinance, 1968, this 
decision was upheld by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of Pakistan in 
C.P. No. 1862-L of 2005. The impugned judgment passed by the 
learned Single Judge of this Court is in consonance with law. This 
appeal has no merit. It is hereby dismissed.” 
CA 1359-1363/14 
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8. 
 
In addition to the benefit of the above dictum, we may 
observe here that TIP’s non-compliance, rather defiance of the decision 
of the cabinet sub-committee to regularize the services of the 
appellants, and not heeding to the directive of their Ministry to comply 
with said decision, compliance whereof is being sought by the 
appellants, is wholly illegal and malafide. Even otherwise, since as 
noted earlier, the retention of the appellants by TIP for a period of 
more than 12 years and repeated renewal of their contracts of 
employment, clearly show that the posts/positions held by the 
appellants were/are of permanent nature which were essentially 
required by TIP for its functioning and that repeated renewal of the 
appellants’ contracts and the increments granted to them show also, 
that the appellants have been discharging their duties to the 
satisfaction of their employer and therefore, employing/retaining the 
appellants on contract, instead on permanent basis was/is wholly 
malafide, whimsical and unfair. Such practice/conduct has also been 
deprecated through judicial pronouncements. The appellants have 
rendered prime time of their life in serving TIP and in the process may 
now have become overage for any other suitable employment. 
9. 
 
It is now well established that right to life as envisaged by 
Article 9 of the Constitution, includes the right to livelihood and as 
laid down in the case of Abdul Wahab (supra), the “right to livelihood, 
therefore, cannot hang on to the fancies of individuals in authority.” 
Certainly, as has further been held in the said judgment; “it shall 
unmistakably be permissible that the employment of an employee can 
be brought to an end, but obviously in accordance with law”, whereas 
in the present case, and as observed earlier, there was/is no 
justification for not making their employment permanent, and for 
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keeping their entire career, rather livelihood exposed and susceptible 
to the whims of the authorities, which also hurts the dignity of the 
appellants.  
10. 
 
Indeed the service/employment rules of TIP are non 
statutory, but such does not prevent the appellants from seeking 
implementation of the decision/order of the Federal Government/ 
ministry for their regularization.  
11. 
 
It hardly needs to be emphasized that the whole edifice of 
governance of the society has it genesis in the Constitution and laws 
aimed at to establish an order, inter alia, ensuring the provisions of 
socio-economic justice, so that the people may have guarantee and 
sense of being treated in accordance with law that they are not being 
deprived of their due rights. Provision of Article 4 embodies the 
concept of equality before law and equal protection of law and save 
citizens from arbitrary/discriminatory law and actions by the 
Governmental authorities. Article 5(2) commands that every body is 
bound to obey the command of the constitution1. Every public 
functionary is supposed to function in good faith, honestly and within 
the precincts of its power so that persons concerned should be treated 
in accordance with law as guaranteed by Article 4 of the Constitution. 
It would include principles of natural justice, procedural fairness and 
procedural propriety2. The action which is malafide or colourable is 
not regarded as action in accordance with law. While discharging 
official functions, efforts should be made to ensure that no one is 
prevented from earning his livelihood because of unfair and 
discriminatory act on their part. 
                                                
1 PLJ 2007 SC 32 
2 PLD 1999 SC 1026 
CA 1359-1363/14 
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12. 
 
It is now well laid down that the object of good governance 
cannot be achieved by exercising discretionary powers unreasonably 
or arbitrarily and without application of mind but objective can be 
achieved by following the rules of justness, fairness, and openness in 
consonance with the command of the Constitution enshrined in 
different articles including Articles 4 and 25. The obligation to act 
fairly on the part of the administrative authority has been evolved to 
ensure the rule of law and to prevent failure of the justice. 
13. 
 
Looking through the above constitutional prism and 
keeping in view the facts that the federal government which owns, 
controls, manages and finances TIP has directed TIP to regularize the 
appellants, and that admittedly the appellants have initially been 
appointed in an open and transparent manner and after the vacancies 
were advertised in the newspapers, one cannot escape the conclusion 
that the appellants ought to have been regularized. 
14. 
 
The appeals are, therefore, allowed. The services of the 
appellants be regularized from the date of decision of the Cabinet Sub-
Committee for Regularization.    
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
JUDGE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
JUDGE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
JUDGE 
Islamabad, the 
18th May 2015 
 
APPROVED FOR REPORTING 
Aamir Sh./ 
