Tomorrow at The state Council , The Second Verdict Hearing in The Case of Minimum Wages and Hearings for Cases of Toshka, Palm Hills and Madinati.
Cairo 25/10/2010
The administrative court of the State Council will review tomorrow four cases of economic and social significance. Chamber one for individuals will issue the second verdict in the case of minimum wages filed by the laborers Nagui Rashad and Yasser Hasasa to bind the government to set a minimum wage proportional to price levels . This second case comes as a reaction to the recent allegations of the government of linking wages to production which is quite misleading to the public as the allegation confuses the net pay which is dependant on production rates and the minimum pay which our prime request. The minimum pay is the figure from which all wages in Egypt must start irrespective of production volumes. The minimum pay is calculated based on prices of goods and services and dependency rate.
At the same time , chamber eight for contracts at the administrative court of the State Council will review three cases pertaining to state property sold to entrepreneurs. The first is regarding the property in New Cairo sold to Palm Hills Corp. for EGP 250/m² though the price per m² is EGP 645 as per the last auction held by the ministry of Housing in 2004. The minister , Ahmed al-Maghraby,sold the property to Palm Hills Corp. in which he is a share holder and yet he signed the contract as a first party representing the government whereas the second party was the minister’s cousin. This casts unpleasant doubts on the pricing policy and the property selling process.
The second case is filed by Shehata Abu She’ir , the lawyer, against the prime minister and the minister of irrigation requesting to annul Toshka contract , by which el-Walid ben Talal possessed vast stretches of land, as the contract includes unfair terms contrary to the public welfare ,such as the possessed area, the price per m² as well as the prices of services , water and electricity supplies, tax and custom exemptions. In addition , the contract violates the state sovereignty as it permits introducing foreign labor whom the Egyptian government is obliged to offer work permits.
The third case is a reverse appeal filed by Hamdy el-Fakharany and Yasmine el-Fakharany to bind the government to implement the court order o annul Madinati contract issued with Talaat Mustafa Corp. As well the appeal requests to disregard the PM decisions to form committees to suggest ways to implement the Administrative Supreme Court order, considering the committee suggestions as circumventing the sentence. The committee in essence gives back the land to the same company with the same price and terms annulled by court.
The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights and all plaintiffs invite stakeholders to attend the hearings and intervene.
The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights will try to get media permits to air the hearings live on the website
