Post by Abid S. Zuberi | Ayan M. Memon Law Associates

We are pleased to share that the Honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan, vide judgment dated 11.02.2026, has allowed our appeals and set aside the impugned judgment of the Sindh Service Tribunal. The case involved a significant question concerning the determination of seniority of civil servants regularised under the Sindh (Regularization of Ad hoc and Contract Employees) Act, 2013. The controversy centered on whether seniority should be reckoned from the date of promulgation of the Act (25.03.2013)—by virtue of the statutory deeming clause—or from a later date assigned through administrative notifications. The Honourable Supreme Court authoritatively held that: • Section 3 of the 2013 Act, being a non obstante provision coupled with a deeming clause, governs the field and must be given full legal effect. • Employees covered under the Act are to be treated as regularised from the date of promulgation of the law, and this legal fiction cannot be disregarded. • The Sindh Service Tribunal failed to properly appreciate the legal effect of the deeming clause, and its judgment was therefore unsustainable in law. • The matter has been remanded to the Tribunal for determination of limited issues relating to inter se seniority, strictly in accordance with the principles laid down by the Supreme Court. This judgment is a significant reaffirmation of the principles governing statutory interpretation and protection of vested service rights, particularly in the context of regularisation laws. The matter was argued by our Senior Partner Barrister Abid S. Zuberi , ably assisted by Barrister Ali Abid Zuberi (Associate Partner) and Barrister S. G. Mustafa Shah (Associate).