ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan on Wednesday has suspended the Sindh government notification issued on July 19 to fix the minimum monthly wage at Rs 25,000 and decided to form a three-member bench to hear the matter next month.

The apex court’s two-member bench comprising Justice Qazi Faiz Issa and Justice Yahya Afridi issued notices to Attorney General Khalid Javed Khan and Sindh Advocate General Salman Talib-ud-Din on the appeals filed by various petitioners.

The applicants include Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, The Employees Federation of Pakistan, Phoenix Security Services (Pvt) Ltd. Karachi, Aziz Tiba Foundation Karachi, Gray Merchant Restaurants International Limited Karachi and SRG Service (Pvt) Karachi.

The institutions had challenged the notification of minimum wage by taking the position that their institutions are an inter-provincial body that falls under the jurisdiction of the federal government for fixing the minimum wage hence The Low Wages Act (SMW) 2015 does not apply to them.

At least Six petitioners questioned the order passed by the Sindh High Court on October 15 in favor of the notification of the provincial government while others approached the apex court to become party to the dispute with the petition that the order of the High Court affected them.