Bauchi State Division of the National Industrial Court has adjourned the hearing of the suit between the disengaged workers of Bauchi Furniture Company and four parastatals of the Bauchi state government, challenging their wrongful dismissal from service.
The Court, presided over by Justice Waziri Abari had earlier adjourned the case to the 6th of February 2018 for hearing, but was further postponed when it was mentioned for hearing on the adjourned date.
While speaking to Journalists at the court premises, the Registrar of the Court, Barrister Ibrahim G.Ibrahim, said that the case was postponed to a later date because the Judge was involved in a car accident and was still hospitalized.
It could be recalled that the disengaged staff of the Bauchi Furniture Company numbering over one hundred were sacked in August 2017 after the company allegedly failed to pay them their salaries for 13 months.
The defendants in the case include the Bauchi State Government, Bauchi Civil Service Commission, Ministries of Finance and Industry, Bauchi Furniture Company and the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of the State.
When the case was mentioned on the 26th of January 2018, the plaintiffs through their Counsel, Idris Jibo asked the Court to declare the action of the company as null and void.
They also requested the court to order the payment of the backlog of their 13 months salaries and fringe benefits the company was owing to them and reinstate them back to their jobs.
Also requested by the plaintiffs is the declaration that they are public officers and that their employment was subject to Bauchi state public service rules and regulations.