PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Monday suspended action on the Workers Welfare Board notification for the employees` rationalisation and asked the labour and WWB secretaries to explain their respective positions on thematter.

Justice Qaiser Rasheed Khan and Justice Abdul Shakoor issued the order during the hearing into a petition of WWB Employees Union president Younis Marat, who claimed that the government intended to do away with the services of a large number of board employees in the garb of rationalisation policy.The bench fixed July 18 for the next hearing into the case asking the labour and WWB secretaries to file their respective replies by then.

Pir Hamidullah Shah, lawyer for the petitioner, said more than 3,000 people had been working with the WWB in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on contractual basis for many years and that their contracts were renewed from time to time.

He said a petition seeking orders for the regularisation of those employees` services had been pending with the high court for decison.

The lawyer said instead of regularising the services of those employees, the WWB secretary issued a notification on March 17 for their rationalisation.

He added that a committee had already been constituted by the WWB for the rationalisation of employees.

The lawyer said the high court had earlier issued a stay order against the removal of the WWBcontractual employees from service.

He claimed that the rationalisation policy was aimed at the retrenchment of the board employees.

He referred to judgments of the superior courts stating that an employee could not be kept I a government department on contractual basis for an indefinite period.

The respondents in the petition are the WWB chairman and secretary, Workers Welfare Fund Islamabad secretary and labour secretary.

BAIL EXTENDED: A singlemember bench of the high court extended pre-arrest bail to a printer, Khalid Naveed, charged by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for misappropriating government funds to the tune of millions of rupees while supply books for Working Folks Grammar Schools in the province.

Justice Younis Taheem directed the petitioner to produce two suretybonds valuing Rs1 million each.

Sardar Ali Raza and Zulfiqar Ali, lawyers for the petitioner, said their client owned a publishing house, Apex Publishers, Urdu Bazaar, Lahore, and was given contract for the provision of books to the WWBrun Working Folks Grammar schools.

They added that the books in question were given away to students free of charge.

The lawyers said the NAB had falsely accused their client and some WWEB officials of causing loss to the exchequer by supply fewer books than the ordered ones.

They added that the NAB had already filed a reference with the relevant accountability court in the case suggesting there was no need for further investigation.

The lawyers said their client was the owner of a reputable company and therefore, there was no possibility of him becoming an absconder fromlaw.