[Supreme Court of Pakistan]
Present: Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi
and Irfan Saadat Khan, JJ
PERVAIZ HUSSAIN SHAH and others---Petitioners
Versus
SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT OF PUNJAB FOOD DEPARTMENT LAHORE and another---Respondents
Civil Petitions Nos. 1007 and 1112-L of 2022, decided on 14th November, 2023.
(Against the judgment dated 14.1.2022 passed by Punjab Service Tribunal, Lahore in Appeal No.4490 of 2014)
(a) Punjab Employees Efficiency, Discipline and Accountability Act (XII of 2006)---
----S. 3--- 'Negligence' and 'gross negligence'--- Distinction---Expression "negligence" fact connotes a dearth of attentiveness and alertness or disdain for duty--- Genus of accountability and responsibility differentiates and augments an act of gross negligence to a high intensity rather than an act of ordinary negligence---To establish gross negligence, the act or omission must be of a worsened genre whereas ordinary negligence amounts to an act of inadvertence or failure of taking on the watchfulness and cautiousness which by and large a sensible and mindful person would bring into play under the peculiar set of circumstances.
The Postmaster General Sindh Province, Karachi v. Syed Farhan 2022 SCMR 1154; Hunter v. Hanley 1955 S.L.T 213 and Stroud's Judicial Dictionary of Words and Phrases, 10th Edition, Volume 2, (pp. 816) ref.
(b) Punjab Employees Efficiency, Discipline and Accountability Act (XII of 2006)---
----S. 4(1)(c)(i)--- District Food Collector---Embezzlement of food stock---Case of 'negligence' as opposed to 'gross negligence'---Withholding of part of pension for a certain period---Proportionality of punishment--- Scope--- Petitioner's absence from the site of embezzlement, albeit due to the nature of his job, could not be used as a handy excuse to absolve himself of the loss caused to the public exchequer---Nevertheless, the petitioner's negligence was not 'gross negligence' given that the petitioner's conduct was not so marked a departure from the normal standard of conduct of a professional man as to infer a lack of that ordinary care which a man of ordinary skill would display---Thus, Inquiry Committee's decision to impose major penalty of withholding 100% of petitioner's pension failed the tests of proportionality (of punishment), suitability, and necessity---Petition for leave to appeal was converted into appeal and partly allowed by modifying the impugned judgment in the terms that the petitioner's pension shall be confined to 50% from the period of service ranging from the year 2014 to 2016 only; whereas pension for the remainder of his service, apart from the aforementioned period of service, shall be paid in its entirety i.e. 100% by the department.
Sabir Iqbal v. Cantonment Board, Peshawar PLD 2019 SC 189; Kremnitzer, M., Steiner, T., Lang, A. (2022). Proportionality in action: Comparative and Empirical Perspectives on the Judicial Practice (pp. 1). Cambridge University Press; Divisional Superintendent, Postal Services v. Nadeem Reza 2023 SCMR 803; The Federation of Pakistan through the General Manager/Operations Pakistan Railways v. Shah Mohammad 2021 SCMR 1249; The Government of N.W.F.P. through the Secretary to the Government of N.W.F.P. Communications and Works Departments, Peshawar v. Mohamad Said Khan PLD 1973 SC 514 and Auditor-General of Pakistan v. Muhammad Ali 2006 SCMR 63 ref.
(c) Punjab Employees Efficiency, Discipline and Accountability Act (XII of 2006)---
----S. 4---Penalty---Proportionality---Penalty should be proportionate to the guilt---Notion of proportionality requires that the punishment ought to reflect the degree of moral culpability associated with the offence for which it is imposed.
Sabir Iqbal v. Cantonment Board, Peshawar PLD 2019 SC 189; Kremnitzer, M., Steiner, T., Lang, A. (2022). Proportionality in action: Comparative and Empirical Perspectives on the Judicial Practice (pp. 1), Cambridge University Press and Divisional Superintendent, Postal Services v. Nadeem Reza 2023 SCMR 803 ref.
(d) Civil service---
----Pension---Scope---Pension is not a bounty; it should be considered as a recognition of the satisfactory service of the retiring person.
The Federation of Pakistan through the General Manager/ Operations Pakistan Railways v. Shah Mohammad 2021 SCMR 1249 and The Government of N.W.F.P. through the Secretary to the Government of N.W.F.P. Communications and Works Departments, Peshawar v. Mohamad Said Khan PLD 1973 SC 514 ref.
(e) Interpretation of statutes---
----Curative Act---Scope and retroactive effect---Curative Act is generally passed to provide some correction or omission made in an existing statute---Acts of such character are obviously retroactive, and hence entitled, as a general rule, to retrospective operation.
Understanding Statutes, 4th Edition, S.M. Zafar, (pp. 234) and Rajby Industries Karachi v. Federation of Pakistan 2023
SCMR 1407 ref.
Muhammad Aftab Alam Rana, Advocate Supreme Court and Syed Rifaqat Hussain Shah, Advocate-on-Record for Petitioners.
Petitioner in person (in C.P. No. 1112-L of 2022).
Barrister Mumtaz Ali, Additional A.G., Abdul Majid, DFC, M. Rizwan, Assistant and M. Nawaz, Assistant for Respondents.
Respondent in person (in C.P. No. 1112-L of 2022).
Comments
Post a Comment