The Sindh High Court (SHC) has directed the Sindh Employees Social Security Institution (Sessi) chairman to submit details with regard to the establishment of a trust under the relevant laws, observing that in case the trust has not been established, the same should be established within two months.
The direction came on a petition calling for implementation of various provisions of social security laws. The high court had earlier directed the provincial government to establish social security courts and recover the outstanding arrears of Rs557 million from employer institutions of the province.
Filing a compliance report, Sessi submitted that it had started meeting trade unions and was creating awareness through different means to raise demand from the workers’ side in order to increase registration of the workers.
The high court was informed that after the court order, the investment amount had been withdrawn from non-profit schemes and would be invested only in government treasury bills and Pakistan investment bonds in short, medium and long tenors.
A division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Salahuddin Panhwar directed district and sessions judges to ask civil judges to visit hospitals and schools under the domain of Sessi to ascertain whether as same were working within their domain and providing due relief to the workers and registration mechanism.
The high court also directed the Sessi chairman to submit district-wise list of workers registered with the institution stating that every worker whether in any sector or home-based industries was required to be registered with Sessi.
The bench observed that there should be a serious campaign by Sessi with the help of deputy commissioners with camps established at the taluka level to enable the workers to get registered.
The high court observed that the law provided that home-based workers were also in the same category therefore there was no cap over maximum or minimum number and every individual worker was to be registered under Sessi and benefited.
The SHC observed that the Sessi law also provided for establishment of a trust therefore the Sessi chairman shall submit a report on whether the trust had been established and in case it was not, the same be established within two months. The high court had on October 7, 2021, directed Sessi to ensure physical verification of all the establishments falling within its territorial jurisdiction and ensure registration of employees.
It had directed Sessi to work for the registration of domestic workers under the Sindh Home-Based Workers Act 2018 for which necessary publications shall be issued to inform the domestic workers about their rights,