Invoking the appellate jurisdiction of National Industrial Relations Commission (NIRC) Islamabad, a cashier of Habib Bank Limited sought restoration of his service claiming he was dismissed from the bank illegally.
Advocate High Court Umer Gilani has filed an appeal on behalf of ex-cashier of the bank branch at Swabi, Syed Arif Bacha, making one of the largest Bank in Pakistan’ General Manager Human Resource Operations, Mardan as respondent. Appellant Syed Arif Bacha has served the HBL for almost 24 years claimed that he was wrongfully terminated in circumstances which reflect nothing but cruel treatment of labour.
Counsel for the Appellant, Umer Gilani submitted his client was stuck by a misfortune when he was falsely implicated in a murder charge on July 01,2014 whereas the main target of the First Information Report was brother of the Appellant.
He further said that on the same day that the murder took place, the Appellant voluntarily went to the Police Station in hopes of cooperating with them in the investigation. However, while at the Police Station, he was arrested in pursuance to the FIR. He remained in jail for years and his life has since been ruined.
The counsel submitted that from July 02,2014, since his client was in confinement, an inquiry officer of the HBL framed two charges against Syed Arif Bacha that he had committed misconduct by continued unauthorized absence for more than 10 days and secondly Bacha was causing a reputational risk to the Bank due to his involvement in the case. Advocate Umer Gilani further submitted that in result of the inquiry his client employment was dismissed on the basis of both the charges on July 30, 2015.
It is pertinent to mention that the trial court has exonerated Syed Arif Bacha who was released from jail on June 21,2019 as the court acquitted him on the basis of a compromise between the parties. Soon after his acquittal, Bacha sent a grievance notice to the HBL which failed to provide any relief. Finally he filed a grievance petition on 21st August 21 , 2021 before the NIRC Bench in Peshawar in the matter.
In December 09, 2021, a single bench of the NIRC dismissed the petition on the basis of two assumptions: first, that an employee can be blamed/fired for being absent from work even when he is prison for no fault of how own, and second that an employee can be saddled with the responsibility to fight and contest his employment-related cases even from the depths of a death cell where the sword of a murder trial is hanging on his head.
Challenging the single-member bench order, the Appellant counsel submitted, “These assumptions are not only incorrect but are surprising cruel and unbecoming of a labor court”.
Advocate Umer Gilani urged the NIRC to set aside the single-member bench verdict saying the impugned order of the NIRC based upon non-reading and non-appreciation of facts. Assailing the verdict, the counsel submitted the single-member bench has failed to appreciate the fact that even though the case was compounded, the Appellant has been pleading innocent from the beginning to the end.
The counsel said, “Bacha never admitted guilt and continue to profess innocence as he was falsely and maliciously implicated, as is customary in village feuds – and everyone in the locality knows this. As such, his being the Respondent’s employee does not constitute as a reputational risk at all”.
