ISLAMABAD: Upholding the verdict given by a services tribunal in the favour of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) employees, the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday rejected the appeals filed by the Board in the case of giving headquarters allowance to its officers.
Speaking during the hearing, counsel for the FBR said that executive allowance was given to the Board employees. “Headquarters allowance cannot be given to time scale employees,” he added.
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Yahya Afridi asked whether the prime minister had given approval of the allowance.
Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb sought the allowance’s summary so that the bench could get to the truth.
FBR’s lawyer said that the allowance was meant for grade-17 employees, while the petitioners in the case were not grade-17 officers.
The chief justice replied there was nothing in the summary that could support the lawyer’s assertion.
He asked the FBR to send the summary again if it wanted to separate the time scale employees from the rest.
The lawyer went on to say that a services tribunal was not authorized to hear the case under review. “I pray to the court to issue a notice to the Finance Division,” he requested.
More than 40 FBR employees had filed a petition in the apex court, seeking headquarters allowance on the basis of time scale.
