CM Baluchistan welcomed Young Politicians in National Party

On 17th September 2014 a delegation of young politicians met Chief Minister Balochistan Dr. Abdul Malik Baloch at Balochistan House Islamabad.

The Delegation included the following persons:-

- Salman Yousaf Khan (Golra): Advocate High Court and Ex-Candidate for Member National Assembly, NA-48, Islamabad.
- Saad Asif: Founder & CEO Complete Energy Solutions SMC Private Limited and a young politician from Islamabad, Pakistan.
- Malik Nauman Khalid: Partner at Nexton Group of Companies and a young politician from Chakwal, Pakistan.
- Raja Kamran Altaf: Advocate High Court and a young politician from Muzafarabad, Kashmir.
- Muhammad Vajih ur Rehman Saqib: Partner at Nexton Group of Companies and Young Politician from Islamabad, Pakistan.

The meeting lasted for four hours. The delegation met Ayub Malik a senior politician from National Party. He clarified the Party Manifesto and Pakistan Nationalism approach of the party to the delegation. He answered all the questions of the delegation in a very impressive manner.

The Delegation had a simple tea with the party leadership. The current situation of the country was discussed in detail.

Finally the delegation had one hour one to one meeting with the Chief Minister. He clarifies the queries of the delegation. He clarified his vision of struggle for the poor and oppressed country wide. Similarly he showed his commitment to work for peace in Baluchistan. He showed his patriotism with Pakistan and a willingness to unite Pakistan country wide with a positive message.

Pakistan Zindabad

Harassment Law has strange procedure

We all admire that The Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2010 is a remarkable legislation for protecting women at workplaces in the absence of any other proper law. A fact is that this legislation is not enough to cater the problems faced by employees especially women at workplaces in daily routine. There are lots of problems in this law which make it a bad legislation when its implemented practically.

One of the problems in The Harassment of Women At Workplace Act, 2010 is that the law doesn't provide a judicial forum for any kind of proceedings. The first forum is the inquiry committee which shall be formed in all organizations. The second forum are the ombudsman created under this Act. Similarly the third forum is the President who doesn't have time to look into the harassment matters.

According the section 4 of the Act, there is a procedure by which the organizations have to conduct inquiries whenever they receive any complaint related with harassment of an employee. The section is reproduced below:-

"4. Procedure for holding inquiry.– (1) The Inquiry Committee, within three days of receipt of a written complaint, shall–
(a) communicate to the accused the charges and statement of allegations leveled against him, the formal written receipt of which will be given;
(b) require the accused within seven days from the day the charge is communicated to him to submit a written defense and on his failure to do so without reasonable cause, the Committee shall proceed ex-parte; and
(c) enquire into the charge and may examine such oral or documentary evidence in support of the charge or in defense of the accused as the Committee may consider necessary and each party shall be entitled to cross-examine the witnesses against him.
(2) Subject to the provisions of this Act and any rules made thereunder the Inquiry Committee shall have power to regulate its own procedure for conducting inquiry and for the fixing place and time of its sitting.
(3) The following provisions inter alia shall be followed by the Committee in relation to inquiry:
(a) The statements and other evidence acquired in the inquiry process shall be considered as confidential;
(b) An officer in an organization, if considered necessary, may be nominated to provide advice and assistance to each party;
(c) Both parties, the complainant and the accused, shall have the right to be represented or accompanied by a Collective Bargaining Agent representative, a friend or a colleague;"


Hence when inquiry is completed the committee is bound to give a decision. However, practically speaking the time period mentioned in the following section and the procedure both are almost impossible to follow because of their complications. Such kind of quasi judicial proceedings in the absence of any judicial mind can only create further complications.

For more information contact internationallawyerinfo@gmail.com

Regards,
Salman Yousaf Khan
Women's Advocate
+92-333-5339880

Organizations must have an Inquiry Committee under the Harassment Law

In 2010 a law was passed by the parliament according to which it becomes mandatory for organizations to have an inquiry committee. The sole purpose of this inquiry committee is to conduct inquiry in the harassment matters. This provision is present in section 3 of the harassment of women at workplace act, 2010. The original content of law is reproduced below:-

3. Inquiry Committee. – (1) Each organization shall constitute an Inquiry Committee within thirty days of the enactment of this Act to enquire into complaints under this Act.
(2) The Committee shall consist of three members of whom at least one member shall be a woman. One member shall be from senior management and one shall be a senior representative of the employees or a senior employee where there is no CBA. One or more members can be co-opted from outside the organization if the organization is unable to designate three members from within as described above. A Chairperson shall be designated from amongst them.
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(3) In case a complaint is made against one of the members of the Inquiry Committee that member should be replaced by another for that particular case. Such member may be from within or outside the organization.
(4) In case where no competent authority is designated the organization shall within thirty days of the enactment of this Act designate a competent authority


The committee shall comprise of three people. These include:-

- 1 Woman
- 1 Senior Management Personnel
- 1 CBA person or senior employee

1 of the persons must be made chairman of the committee. If the infrastructure of the organization do not allow such formation of the committee, then it can invite people from other organizations. The organizations that are not having any such committee by now are acting in violation of this law. That means they can be penalized under this law anytime.

For further information on The Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2010 feel free to contact us at internationallawyerinfo@gmail.com

Regards,
Salman Yousaf Khan
Women's Advocate
+92-333-5339880