A lawyer on Saturday moved the Lahore High Court (LHC) against the dismissal of hundreds of thousands of factory workers and private employees during the lockdown in Punjab.

A petition was filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC) challenging the dismissal of hundreds of thousands of factory workers and private employees during the lockdown in Punjab that is meant to check the spread of novel coronavirus.

The Government of Punjab, Punjab's Department of Industries and Commerce and Department of Labour have been made respondents in the petition filed by Advocate Ishtiaq A Chaudhry.

The petition notes that a nationwide lockdown has been imposed to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus in the country, but trade organisations and factory owners have laid off workers during the lockdown in Punjab. “Trade organisations have also cut the salaries of workers in Punjab,” the petitioner says.

He says the governments of Sindh and Balochistan have taken steps to protect the jobs of workers in their provinces but in Punjab hundreds of thousands of workers are now facing a financial crisis after losing their jobs.

The petitioner has requested the court to direct the Punjab government to reinstate all workers fired after imposition of the lockdown in addition to giving them financial compensation.