Court recommends legislature consider 65-70 age limit for some union executives

Pakistan’s Federal Constitutional Court has recommended that the legislature consider prescribing a maximum age of 65 to 70 years for persons who may serve in the remaining 25 percent of a trade union’s executive, while ruling that those positions do not necessarily have to be held by workers of the relevant establishment or industry.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Federal Constitutional Court has recommended that the legislature consider prescribing a maximum age of 65 to 70 years for persons who may serve in the remaining 25 percent of a trade union’s executive, while ruling that those positions do not necessarily have to be held by workers of the relevant establishment or industry.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Muhammad Karim Khan Agha announced the judgment on Friday in a petition filed by Muhammad Akhlaq Khan against the National Industrial Relations Commission (NIRC) and others.

The court said Section 8(1)(d) of the Industrial Relations Act 2012 requires at least 75 percent of a trade union’s executive to comprise workers of the relevant establishment or industry, but allows the remaining 25 percent to include persons who are not workers.

The court said the provision does not require trade unions to fill that 25 percent with non-workers, adding that the eligibility of any such person remains subject to the union’s constitution and other applicable laws.

The case concerned Khan’s eligibility to contest the KESC Labour Union elections. Khan, a former employee of K-Electric, had served as chairman of the union in 2017 and 2019.

The Sindh High Court had upheld a full-bench decision of the NIRC that found Khan ineligible to contest the election under the proviso to Section 8(1)(d) of the Industrial Relations Act 2012. A single-member NIRC bench had earlier found no evidence of his ineligibility.

The Federal Constitutional Court set aside the Sindh High Court judgment and allowed Khan’s appeal, holding that the remaining 25 percent of a union executive need not comprise workers and may include non-workers.

The court also noted that the Industrial Relations Act 2012 does not prescribe a maximum age for persons seeking election to those positions. It said it could not impose an age limit itself because doing so would encroach on the legislature’s role.

“We would, however, recommend that the legislature may consider prescribing a maximum age in the range of sixty-five to seventy years for such persons, together with an appropriate requirement as to their physical and mental fitness,” the judgment said.

The judgment, authored by Justice Muhammad Karim Khan Agha, said the individual eligibility of a candidate would still have to be determined in accordance with the union’s constitution and other applicable legal requirements.

The petitioner’s counsel, Salahuddin Ahmed, argued that the Sindh High Court had misinterpreted Section 8(1)(d), saying the provision exempted the remaining 25 percent of union executives from the requirement of being workers of the relevant establishment or industry.

Counsel for the respondents, Muhammad Umer Lakhani, opposed the petition, arguing that Khan had accepted an earlier NIRC order finding him ineligible and had participated in the election process without directly challenging that order.