DIRECTOR, PUNJAB EMPLOYEES SOCIAL SECURITY INSTITUTIONS, MULTAN and others vs Messrs MONNOWAL TEXTILE MILLS LTD and others
This matter arises from petitions for leave to appeal filed by the Director, Punjab Employees Social Security Institution against judgments of the Lahore High Court which allowed appeals filed by respondent employers. The petitioner institution had issued demand notices under the Social Security Ordinance, 1965, for increased demand concerning Special Allowance paid to employees, specifically targeting employers who had not previously approached the courts. The core legal question concerns whether the petitioner institution can selectively demand increased contributions from employers who did not challenge earlier notices in court, while sparing those who did. The Supreme Court held that such discriminatory action by the petitioner institution violates the principle of equality before the law. The Court ruled that similarly situated employers must be given the same treatment and dismissed the petitions as devoid of merit. The key principle laid down is that state institutions cannot adopt a discriminatory policy of enforcing demands only against litigants or non-litigants when similarly placed.
- Whether an institution can selectively issue demand notices for increased contributions only to employers who have not approached the courts?
- Is the practice of demanding increased contributions exclusively from non-litigating employers violative of Article 25 of the Constitution of Pakistan, 1973?
- Whether similarly situated employers are entitled to the same treatment regarding social security contribution demands?
- Section 23(1), Social Security Ordinance 1965
- Article 25, Constitution of Pakistan 1973
ORDER
1. ' TANVIR AHMED KHAN, J.--- Leave to appeal is sought against the judgments dated 18-2-2002 and 26-2-2002 whereby a learned Single. Judge of the Lahore High Court, Multan Bench, Multan, allowed the F.A.Os. Filed by the respondents in terms already laid down in F.A.O. No,384 of 2001 decided on 14-1-2002.
2. ' The facts briefly narrated are that the petitioner institution issued demand notices under section 23(1) of the Social Security Ordinance, 1965 (hereinafter referred to as the Ordinance), for increased demand in respect of Special Allowance paid to the employees. Such notices were challenged by different employers before the Lahore High Court and thereafter the matter was set at rest through a judgment reported as Shams Textile Mills and others v. Province of Punjab and 2 others 1999 SCM R 1477. Subsequent to the above judgment the impugned notices were issued for the increased demand by the petitioner institution to certain employers. Messrs Ghazi Fabrics Limited filed F.A.O. No,384 of 2001 took exception to the aforesaid demand being discriminatory as the said increase was not demanded from the employers who approached the Lahore High Court as well as this Court. Messrs Ghazi Fabrics Limited succeeded and the F.A.O. No,384 of 2001 was accepted through an order dated 14-1-2002.
3. ' The petitioner department challenged the said judgment through Civil Petition No,905/L of 2002 along with many other civil petitions before this Court, which were dismissed by a learned Bench of this Court vide its order, dated 4-2-2003.
4. ' Learned counsel appearing for the petitioners has failed to persuade us to take a different view as the criteria put by him does not suit the Institution that the increased demand is made from those employers only who have not approached the Courts. This act on the part of the petitioners is certainly violative of Article 25 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973. No illegality has been committed by the learned Single Judge of the Lahore High Court in giving the same treatment to the respondent employers as has been meted out to other employers placed in similar circumstances.
5. ' Resultantly, for what has been stated above, the instant petitions being devoid of any merit are hereby dismissed and .