ISLAMABAD: Tired of the Punjab government`s foot dragging over implementation of the Supreme Court directives, lady health worl(ers (LHWs) filed on Tuesday a contempt of court petition against the chief minister and senior government officials of the province for violating March 7, 2013 order of the court.

Through the order, the SC had instructed the provincial administration to regularise services of LHWs by developing their service rules from July 2012 and paying them salary from the due date.

The petition was filed by LHWs`leader Bushra Arain, who has nominated Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, his adviser Khawaja Salman Rafique and Punjab`s Chief Secretary Anwar Cheema and Health Secretary Jawad Rafiq as respondents.

Through last year`s directives, the apex court had ordered the federal and the provincial governments to make efforts to protect the rights of LHWs.

The judgment had noted that initially LHWs had no payment status, but on the intervention of the court, followed by decisions made by a special parliamentary committee and the Council of Common Interests, their status was recognised and a pay scale was sanctioned.

But pension beneßts have to be decided by the provinces through legislation.

The apex court had bound the respective governments not to take any adverse decision harmful to the interests of the LHWs.

Now through the petition, the LHWs have complained that the Punjab government did not treat them like employees of civil service, but like employees of autonomous bodies.

Moreover, discriminatory treatment is being meted out to them in terms of payment of salary, the petition says without elaborating.

Having the strength of 106,000 and despite rendering services over the past 17 to 18 years, the health workers do not have job security rather their services are sometimes terminated by the provinces, Ms Arain said.

The LHWs had been demanding regularisation of their service for over three years and had staged several demonstrations in Islamabad to pressurise the government to accept their demand.

They were appointed under the National Programme for Family Planning and Primary Health by the Benazir Bhutto government in 1994 but their services have not yet been regularised.

Initially, the lady health workers received a meagre monthly pittance of 3,200 which was raised to Rs7,000 on the Supreme Court`s Nov 2, 2010 order.