' CH. MUHAMMAD ARIF, J.---Leave is sought by the Chairman, PTCL, Islamabad and General Manager, CTR, PTCL, Lahore against the judgment, dated 3-12-1997 of the Federal Service Tribunal, hereinafter referred to as the Tribunal, whereby respondent's Appeal No.392(L) of 1997 was allowed by the Tribunal and the penalty of his dismissal from service was converted into withholding of two increments for a period of three years by treating the intervening period as extraordinary leave (without pay).
2. Mr. Sheikh Ahmad Fazal, learned Advocate Supreme Court appearing in support of this petition, has vehemently contended that the dismissal of the respondent from service did not suffer from any taint whatsoever and the learned Members of the Tribunal were in error in converting the same into a minor punishment and that too sans any support from proper reasons as held by this Court in Pakistan Railways through General Manager v. Ghulam Rasul (1997 SCM R 1581).
3. After hearing the learned counsel for the petitioners as also Mr. Muhammad Aslam Ch. Learned Advocate-on-Record for the respondent/caveator, we are inclined to grant leave to consider whether the learned Tribunal was possessed of the requisite jurisdiction to convert the dismissal from service of respondent to the minor punishment of withholding of two increments for a period of three years without supporting its such course with justifiable reasons?
4.. The operation of the impugned judgment shall remain suspended till the hearing of the appeal.
Being a service-matter, the hearing of the appeal shall be expedited.