The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday wrapped up the Pakistan Steel Labour Union (PASLU) petition against privatization of the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) and retrenchment of its employees. The federal government submitted its reply in the court and the attorney general’s representative took the stance that the government decided to axe the PSM workers under the Supreme Court’s observation. The Sindh High Court remarked that it cannot conduct hearing on the petition till the apex court’s verdict over the matter. Let it be known that the petition filed by PASLU in the SHC stated that workers are not responsible for the PSM’s current condition. “Wrong policies by former governments caused losses to the PSM while the incumbent government did not take any step either to restore it. The federal government’s decision to retrench the PSM employees is illegal and should be declared unlawful.” Earlier, on June 3, the government had approved retrenchment of all the 9,350 employees of the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM). A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet presided over by Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr. Abdul HafeezShaikh. “The meeting gave a go-ahead to a ‘full and final’ human resource rationalisation plan for the PSM employees in accordance with the judgements and observations of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and other courts hearing the cases involving the PSM,” said an official announcement.
