Pakistan Case Law
1994 SCMR 958

TANVIR IQBAL SIDDIQI vs THE PRINCIPAL, OVERSEAS PAKISTANIS' FOUNDATION

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Citation1994 SCMR 958
CourtSupreme Court of Pakistan
Case No.Civil Petition No. 313 of 1992
Date1992-10-11
Judge(s)Muhammad Afzal Lone and Muhammad Rafiq Tarar
Authored byMuhammad Afzal Lone
ResultLeave refused
AI Summary — generated from this judgment; read the full text below and verify before relying on it.

This petition for leave to appeal challenges a Lahore High Court order that dismissed the petitioner's writ petition against the termination of his employment as a Science Laboratory Assistant at the Overseas Pakistanis' Foundation (O.P.F.) Girls College. The core legal question is whether the O.P.F. constitutes a statutory body amenable to the writ jurisdiction of the High Court under Article 199 of the Constitution. The Supreme Court upheld the High Court's decision, affirming that the O.P.F. is not a department of the Federal Government and was not created by any statute. Consequently, the Foundation does not perform functions in connection with the affairs of the Federation as contemplated by the Constitution. The Court held that because the O.P.F. lacks statutory status, the writ petition was incompetent, and the petitioner's appropriate remedy for challenging his termination lay in filing a civil suit rather than invoking constitutional jurisdiction. The petition for leave to appeal was accordingly dismissed for lack of merit.

Questions settled in this judgment
  • Is the Overseas Pakistanis' Foundation a statutory body amenable to writ jurisdiction under Article 199 of the Constitution?
  • Does the Overseas Pakistanis' Foundation perform functions in connection with the affairs of the Federation?
  • What is the appropriate legal remedy for an employee of a non-statutory body challenging their termination?
Laws & provisions referred
  • Article 199 of the Constitution
writ jurisdictionstatutory bodytermination of serviceconstitutional petitionaffairs of the Federationemployment dispute

' MUHAMMAD AFZAL LONE, J.---The petitioner was employed as a Science Laboratory Assistant/Technician with the Overseas Pakistanis' Foundation Girls College, Islamabad. His services were terminated on 30-4-1990. He assailed the validity of the termination order through Writ Petition No, 323 of 1992, which was disposed of at the limine stage by a learned Single Judge of the Lahore High Court, vide his order dated 22-7-1992, from which leave to appeal is sought by the petitioner. The High Court declined to intervene on the ground that O.P.F. Which runs the College though an autonomous body, yet is not the creation of any Statute. It was maintained that if the petitioner claimed the status of civil servant, he should have approached the Service Tribunal; on the other hand, the O.P.F. Being not the statutory organisation, the petitioner's remedy lay in filing a civil suit.

2. We have heard the petitioner in person. The O.P.F. Is decidedly not a department of the Federal Government. The fact that it has not been created by virtue of any Statute has also not been disputed before us. It is not shown that the Foundation performs the functions in connection with the affairs of the "Federation" within the meaning of Article 199 of the Constitution. The High Court, therefore, rightly came to the conclusion that the writ petition is not competent. We have not been persuaded to differ with the view expressed by the learned Single Judge.

' There is no merit in this petition. The leave prayed for is, therefore, refused and the petition dismissed.

Cited by 13 cases

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