Govt includes PIA in 'Pakistan Essential Services Act' for six months

• Govt notifies implementation of act as it believes PIA is “essential for maintenance of smooth functioning of flight operations”.
• The implementation of act has been notified to PIA employees via an Admin order issued on April 22.
• Three offences by an employee may led them to be punishable with imprisonment for at least a year.

KARACHI: The federal government has extended the inclusion of PIA under the “Pakistan Essential Services (Maintenance) Act,” 1952 for six months.

The government notified the implementation of the act as it believes that PIA is “essential for maintenance of smooth functioning of flight operations” of the national carrier.

The implementation of the act has also been notified to the PIA employees by the Chief Human Resource Office of the national carrier via an admin order issued on April 22.

Interestingly, the orders have been extended despite the implementation of the Industrial Relations Act, 2012.

As per the admin order, three offences by an employee will led them to be punishable with “imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year and shall also be liable to fine”.

The offences falling under the act are as follows:

• [Any employee] Disobeys any lawful order given in the course of such employment or attempts to persuade any person to disobey any such order, or
• Without reasonable excuse abandons such employment or absents himself from work or refuses to work or to continue to work, whether or not acting in combination with or under a common understanding of any other person engaged in such employment, or
• Departs from any area specified in an order under sub-section (1) of Section 4 without the consent of the authority making that order.
• Whoever instigates or incites any person engaged in any employment or class of employment to which this Act applies, to commit an offence under this Act, or knowingly expands or supplies any money or otherwise acts in furtherance of the commission of such an offence, shall be deemed to have committed that offence.

The admin order has advised the PIA employees to “refrain from indulging in any activity which may tantamount to an offence” under the act. It warned that failure to follow the advise may lead an employee to become “liable to prosecution” in court.