SC orders to implement 7th wage award for journalist
343 viewsBy jazbablog - Wed Oct 19, 6:27 pm
ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court (SC) while rejecting appal pleas of owners of news papers against wage board award with fine has ordered that 7th wage board award be given to journalists.
A 3-member SC bench had reserved judgment regarding wage board award on September 29. CJP Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry authored the verdict and read it out Wednesday.
It was said in the decision that wage board award law does not run contrary to the constitution and. Law of Newspaper Employees Contract Service Act 1973 is in complete conformity with the constitution.
It was further laid down in the verdict that 7th wage board award was completely effective and board can make any change or amendment in the award if it wills to do so. Otherwise the award will remain effective. Therefore, wage board award be given to the journalists.
It may be recalled that wage board award was constituted in 2001 and it was declared effective from July 2001. The case was running in the court and owners of newspapers had filed appeals against it.
Meanwhile President Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), Idrees Bakhtiar, and Secretary General Mian Rifaat Qadri have welcomed the Supreme Court’s judgment over 7th wage board award, and termed it victory for journalist community.
In a statement, they said that journalists are the backbone of media industry, and after implementation of wage board award, various longstanding problems being faced by journalists would be resolved, which would ultimately benefit the journalism industry.
They hoped that the newspapers owners would implement the apex court’s judgment in its letter and spirit.
They thanked senior lawyer Akram Shaikh, who represented PFUJ (D) in the Supreme Court, and counsels for other journalist organizations for their perpetual struggle for journalists’ right.
The PFUJ leaders also congratulated all the journalist organizations on the apex court’s judgment.
