Islamabad:
In a historic verdict, the Supreme Court has judged that the right to compassionate employment granted to a widow under the Prime Minister’s assistance package cannot only be canceled because of its subsequent remarriage.
A five -page judgment written by judge Syed Mansoor Ali Shah confirmed the decision of the High Court of Lahore, reaffirming that financial independence was not an extended favor for women, but a cornerstone of their dignity and full participation in public life.
“We reaffirm that the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 (” Constitution “), ensures fundamental rights for individuals as equal citizens, and not as appendages of patriarchal roles or marital identities,” said judgment.
“Women are not defined by men of their lives; they are independent and rights-bearing individuals,” he said.
The high -level court noted that refusing a woman the right to use on the basis of her remarriage is a blatant strengthening of patriarchal control, seeking to subordinate her legal identity to societal expectations.
“Financial independence is not a concession for women, it is the foundation of their constitutional agency, their dignity and their full participation in public life. The law must dismantle, and not perpetuate, the structures that reduce women to secondary citizens in the eyes of society.”
The case came from the fate of a defendant, including the husband, an employee of the income tax department, died in service on February 14, 2006.
She was then appointed inferior division clerk (PMA) on a two -year contract on May 26, 2010, under the Prime Minister’s assistance package for families of deceased government employees. The contract has been extended several times.
However, its services were terminated via an order dated January 4, 2016, published by the Secretary (MGT) IR-V, Federal Board of Revenue (HRM), Islamabad. The base was an office memorandum (OM) dated December 15, 2015, which judged that a widow becomes unacceptable to a compassionate job during remarriage.
Seeking repair, the respondent approached the LHC, which reigned in its favor. The FBR subsequently challenged the decision to the Supreme Court.
Can the crucial question division of the Supreme Court: Can the right to sympathize with the Prime Minister’s assistance package as part of it is just because a widow has remarried?
The verdict dismantles the justification underlying OM, calling it “manifestly discriminatory” because it targets widows – female spouse of deceased government employees – for disqualification during remarriage, while sparing widows.
