Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar, J.--This is a constitutional petition, preferred under Article 199 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, with the following prayers: It is therefore, accordingly prayed that directions may kindly be issued to the respondents that total length of service of petitioner is 22 years and petitioner is entitled for pension benefits, therefore, he may be accorded/granted pension benefits, accordingly in the interest of justice."
2. The contents of writ petition show that the petitioner was initially appointed as wireman on 7th April 1986 on permanent basis and, subsequently, after passing mandatory examination, was promoted as Telephone Operator on 12th February 1990. As per petitioner, according to the prescribed rules and procedure, the date of petitioner should have been notified for the pension purpose to be the 7th April 1986 and his total length of service should be counted as 22 years for the purpose of pension.
According to petitioner, his total length of service is 22 years and the Voluntary Separation Scheme (the VSS) Cell .has incorrectly determined his service period as 18 years instead of 22 years and he is entitled for all the benefits given to the other employees having more than 20 years of service.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner contended that according to calculation worksheet in respect of estimated value of benefit package of Voluntarily Separation Scheme received by the petitioner, his total length of service was mentioned as 22 years, which is pension-able, but, subsequently, he was refused such facility, which is against the spirit of justice.
4. According to the record, the petitioner applied for the benefit of VSS and, after receiving settlement amount of gratuity according to the calculation worksheet of VSS Cell, his request for pension amount was denied on the ground that he did not possess the requisite qualifying length of service.
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5. At the very outset, when we asked learned counsel for the petitioner as to whether relief can be granted to any employee seeking benefit of VSS by this Court in view of the non-maintainability of his writ petition, on the ground that his services were not governed by any statutory rules, he produced a copy of Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation Service Regulations 1996, framed under Section 20 of the Act, 1991, but failed to show whether the said regulations were duly notified in the official gazette, even if such regulations were duly made, they were not holding the field after repeal of the Act, of 1991, under which the said Regulations were made. Thus, the instant petition is not only suffering from latches, but is also not maintainable for the reason that the service of the petitioner was not governed by any statutory rules and even the VSS was not offered under, or in terms of any statutory provisions.
6. We are conscious of the fact that the VSS papers received by the petitioner purported the total length of service as 22 years, but the contents of VSS calculation worksheet were subject to verification and as per PTCL policy, the Service has to be counted after TO-I training. In this context, we are of the view that the technicalities should not be allowed to overshadow the administration of justice. Even otherwise, a wrong cannot be allowed to perpetuate. The mentioning of 22 years as total length of service in VSS papers by the VSS Support Cell was totally wrong and illegal, being in violation of PTCL policy and VSS terms and conditions. It is a settled principle of law that when the initial order or the very act, which relates to the initiation of a proceeding, is contrary to law and illegal, then all subsequent proceedings and actions taken on the basis of such illegal and unlawful action would have no basis and would fall. Thus, the writ petition, being not maintainable and meritless, is dismissed.