' This appeal is directed against the decision of the learned IVth Labour Court given on 25th November 1981. Dismissing the grievance petition of the appellant against the termination of his services by the respondent Jamiat, on the ground that as the said. Jamiat was neither an industrial nor a commercial establishment for the purposes of the Sind Industrial and Commercial Employment (Standing Orders) Ordinance, 1968, the appellant's grievance petition was not maintain able.
2. It appears from the evidence recorded by the learned Labour Court that the respondent Jamiat is running a Library where the appellant was employed, besides dispensaries and graveyards. All these institutions are being run for charitable purposes. Furthermore, not only is the respondent Jamiat registered under the Voluntary Social Welfare Agencies (Registration and Control)
Ordinance, 1961, but further the Central Board of Revenue, in view of the charitable work being done by the respondent Jamiat, has exempted the contributions made to it from the levy of income-tax.
Moreover, the only sources of income of the. Jamiat are the charities, zakat and donations received from its members. The respondent Jamiat thus cannot be said to fall within the definition either of commercial establishment or industrial establishment as given in the Standing Orders Ordinance.
Mr. Yousaf Khan, the learned Advocate for the appellant, was specifically asked to point out the clause of the definition of "commercial establishment" or "industrial establishment" under which the respondent Jamiat could fall but he was unable to do so. I am 'fortified in my view that the respondent Jamiat, being a purely charitable institution, does not come within the definition of either "commercial establishment" or "indusrial establishment" as given in the Standing Orders, by two decisions of the Karachi High Court. In the case of the Medical Education Uplift Fund Association of Seventh Day Adventists in Pakistan v. Vth Labour Court, Karachi and another (1), a learned Single Judge of the Karachi High Court has ' held that the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital at Karachi being run by the above Association is not an industrial or commercial establishment and its employees are not "workmen" for the purposes of the Standing Orders Ordinance, as the said hospital is a charitable institution run on no profit basis. In the latest case of Employees' Union, Jamia, Karachi v. Registrar of Trade Unions, Sind and 2 -others (2), a Division Bench of the Karachi High Court has held, that the associations of employees of the Karachi University and the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Karachi, are not entitled to have their associations registered as Trade Unions under the I. R.
0., 1969, as the University and the Board of Education, cannot be termed as an "industry" for the purposes of the I. R. O.
3. For the reasons discussed by me above, I would agree with the view of the learned Labour Court that the grievance petition of the appellant was not maintainable as the respondent Jamiat is neither a commercial nor an industrial establishment. I would accordingly dismissed this appeal in limine. {{FOOT NOTE}}
(1) PLD 1978 Kar. 536 (2) 1981 PLC 403 {{FOOT NOTE}}