' Seven appeals, captioned above, having been preferred by the ex-employees of the M.E.S., are proposed to be disposed of by this single judgment.
2. The appellants, had pleaded that they were labourers/work mistries, had wrongfully been ousted from service. They unsuccessfully approached the learned Punjab Labour Court No.1, Lahore, by individually filing grievance petitions under section 25-A of the Industrial Relations Ordinance.
' Undoubtedly, as conceded by the aggrieved persons themselves, the M.E.S. (Military Engineering Service) is under the control of the Ministry of Defence, its role being to construct building for the Armed Forces. The M.E.S. Head Quarters in the G.H.Q. Rawalpindi. The salaries' of the employees are sanctioned by the Army G.H.Q. Any Army Officer in uniform is the Incharge. The Defence Service Regulation No.133 governs terms and conditions of service of the, employees of the M.E.S. The august Supreme Court of Pakistan had held on 24-11-1982, while disposing of Civil Appeals Nos.43 and 44 of 1980, Rehmat Gill v. Quetta Cantonment Board, and Bahawal v. Quetta Cantonment Board, that the provisions of the Industrial Relations Ordinance, 1969 do not apply to the employees of the Cantonment Board. The employees of the M.E.S. are not on a different footing for redressed of their grievances, the employees cannot, therefore, have access to Labour Forum, especially when the M.E.S. has not been established to be an industrial or commercial organization. This being' the factual and legal position, the learned Labour Court had rightly held to be having no jurisdiction in these matters, which have been returned for presentation before an appropriate forum.
3. I have given my careful consideration to the pleadings of the parties, the evidence available on record, and the reasoning of the learned Presiding Officer, Labour Court No.1, embodied in the impugned decision, and I find no reason to differ with the same. I would uphold the impugned decision. The appeals are resultantly dismissed, being without any merit, with no order as to costs.