The All Pakistan Newspaper Society's (APNS) request to the Supreme Court to pay a review visit to its last year's judgement on a 1973 Act laying down conditions of service for the newspaper employees and also a minimum wage was adjourned with date in office after two weeks. The petition moved by Abdul Hafeez Pirzada came up for initial hearing here on Tuesday morning, and was adjourned with "date in office" by the presiding judge of the bench, Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary on the grounds that the lead lawyer had a problem with his throat.

Hafeez Pirzada had been ailing for quite sometime over the past year, and had been on long adjournment permissions to get medical treatment from abroad almost every month. In between, however, he has been appearing in urgent cases.

Answering a question at the outset of the hearing on Tuesday, Pirzada complained of problems with his throat at which Justice Chaudhary conveyed to him the concern of the judges over his health condition.

He then announced that since the lead counsel of the APNS did not feel fit, the case was adjourned with "date in office after two weeks". The other members of the bench were Justice Rana Baghwandas and Justice M. Javed Buttar.

Muhammad Akram Sheikh had appeared for the newspaper workers.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2005