Ch. Imran Hassan Ali had the honour of representing the widow of an Honourable Judge, Lahore High Court, who died while still in service. Under the Constitution and the Law, the widow is entitled to certain financial assistance from the state after her husband’s death. However, the Government failed to pay a major portion of the grant to her, citing an opinion of the Ministry of Law and Justice that the widow is not entitled to receive the grant. This opinion contradicts an earlier opinion of the same ministry on the subject.
On 24-05-2021, the High Court heard preliminary arguments on a petition for writs of certiorari and mandamus filed by the widow. After noting that the petition raises important questions involving interpretation of some provisions of the Constitution of Pakistan, the Court issued notice to the Attorney General for Pakistan as well as the Advocate General, Punjab.
On 27-04-2022, the Court gave its final judgment in favour of the Petitioner and declared that she is entitled to the claimed benefits.
The judgment has been reported at PLD 2023 Lahore 324 and 2022 LHC 4171. It can also be dowloaded from the Lahore High Court website by clicking here.
Both the Federal Government and the Punjab Government sought leave to appeal to the Supreme Court. However, on 13-10-2023, the Supreme Court dismissed both petitions and upheld the judgment of the High Court.
Ch. Imran Hassan Ali, Advocate, represented the successful Petitioner in a Writ Petition against Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd. (“PTCL”) before the Honourable Islamabad High Court. The Petitioner was employee of PTCL. He opted for Voluntary Separation Scheme (“VSS”) launched by PTCL. He was just 22 days short of the period of service required before an employee becomes entitled to pension. PTCL hastened to accept his application for VSS before he completed the said period. He was thus deprived of pension despite having worked at PTCL for more than 19 years. He challenged it before the Islamabad High Court.
The Respondent argued that after its privatisation PTCL is not amenable to Constitutional Jurisdiction of the High Court. The Court rejected this objection by employing the “function test”.
The Court accepted the Writ Petition on merits and declared that the Petitioner was entitled to pension.