ISLAMABAD – While exercising appellate jurisdiction, a two-member bench of the top court comprising Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Aqeel Ahmad Abbasi has directed the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) to immediately disburse additional pension to a retired employee, warning that judicial intervention will follow in case of non-compliance.
A 10-page verdict, penned by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, emphatically anchors the right to pension within the framework of fundamental rights, dismissing any interpretation of it as an act of grace or charity.
The ruling conceptualizes the pensionary benefit as a ‘crystallised return on years of faithful service, a form of deferred wages earned through the sweat, labour, and loyalty of an employee.’ This position underscores the principle that the entitlement is compensatory and earned, rather than gratuitous.
The Apex Court observed that to deny or withhold this accrued right is to divest a citizen of rightfully earned security, a position that cannot be constitutionally sustained.
“It embodies the principle that those who serve must not be cast aside in their twilight years,” the bench noted. Furthermore, “To deny or withhold pension is to strip a person of the security they have justly earned, leaving them exposed to indignity, vulnerability, and want.”
The judgment explicitly cautioned corporate entities against arbitrary actions concerning employee entitlements: “To trifle with pension is, therefore, to trifle with constitutional justice itself.” It was stressed that the grant of pension must be “not only adequate but also predictable,” maintaining an “element of respect and empathy” consonant with the constitutional value of dignity.
Setting aside the impugned judgment of the Islamabad High Court in the matter, the Supreme Court declared that the petitioner was “entitled to Additional Pension under Section 5 of the Ordinance, 2001 read with Regulation 15(1A) of the Pension Regulations.”
The OGDCL has been directed to “pay the Additional Pension to the petitioner… within 30 days from the receipt of this Judgment and submit a compliance report to the Registrar of this Court.”
The ruling concludes with a clear judicial ultimatum: “In case the compliance report is not received till the first week of November 2025, the case will be put up on the judicial side for necessary orders.”
