REKO DIQ MINING COMPANY (PVT.) LTD. vs NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMISSION Ss — 2026 PLC 77 ISLAMABAD

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REKO DIQ MINING COMPANY (PVT.) LTD. VS NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMISSION Ss.31, 32, 33, 53, 54 & 57---National Industrial Relations Commission (Procedure and Functions) Regulations, 2016, Reglns.3 & 4---Civil Procedure Code (V of 1908), O.VII, R.10---Constitution of Pakistan, Art.199---Territorial jurisdiction of NIRC---Employment contract---Exclusive jurisdiction clause---Effect---Employment contract containing an exclusive jurisdiction clause conferring jurisdiction on courts at place 'I'---Enforceability and legal effect---Where the cause of action is asserted to have arisen at place 'Q' and the employee institutes a grievance petition before NIRC at place 'Q'---Maintainability of grievance petition at place 'Q'---Scope---Brief facts were that the petitioner company challenged the NIRC Full Bench order whereby its appeal against the Single Member, NIRC was dismissed; the respondent employee was hired as 'safety officer' under an offer letter containing an exclusive jurisdiction clause for Islamabad; after termination notice, respondent employee filed a grievance petition at NIRC Quetta, and the petitioner's application under O. VII, R. 10, C.P.C. for return of plaint was rejected---Question requiring determination in the present matter was as to "whether NIRC Quetta had territorial jurisdiction despite the parties having confined themselves to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts at Islamabad?"---Held: It was clear from perusal of standard-form contract furnished by the petitioner company that there existed clear inequality of bargaining power between the petitioner company and the respondent employee---Respondent employee had no meaningful opportunity to negotiate any of its terms---This lack of real choice underscored the inequality of bargaining power between the parties and assumed significance while examining the enforceability of the contractual stipulations contained therein---National Industrial Relations Commission being a federal statutory body designed the sitting of its members at different placed was to be flexible and facilitative in nature to adequately address the disputes of trans-provincial establishments---The seat of member of NIRC at Quetta, therefore, did not constitute a separate or distinct forum; it was merely a bench of NIRC through which the NIRC exercised its federally conferred jurisdiction---Proceedings conducted at Quettaremained proceedings of the NIRC itself, and the territorial jurisdiction of Industrial Relations Act, 2012 extended to whole of Pakistan---Jurisdiction flew from the statute creating the forum, not from the place where the forum happened to sit---So long as the subject matter of the dispute fell within the statutory mandate of the NIRC, the exercise of jurisdiction through any of its duly constituted seats/benches could not be questioned on territorial grounds alone---In the present case, the NIRC acting though its Quetta Bench lawfully exercised jurisdiction in the matter---Proceedings before the NIRC were directed to continue---Present constitutional petition was dismissed, in circumstances.

REKO DIQ MINING COMPANY (PVT.) LTD. vs NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMISSION Ss — 2026 PLC 77 ISLAMABAD

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