Salary during suspension: does a suspended government employee get full pay?

Key points

• Suspension is an interim step, not a penalty: the employee "continues to hold the post", and "all rights flowing therefrom, including entitlement to full salary, remain enforceable during the suspension period" (para 5).
• Fundamental Rule 53(b), as the Court quoted it: a government servant under suspension, other than one specified in clause (a), "shall be entitled to full amount of his salary and all other benefits and facilities provided to him under the contract of service, during the period of his suspension" (para 6).
• Cutting pay before the inquiry decides anything is "punishment without proof" (para 8). The Court also cited the Hadith that "the labourer be paid his wages before his sweat dries" (para 7).
• The department could not turn the suspension into extraordinary leave without pay or recover the pay already given: the Service Tribunal's order stood, and the department's petition was dismissed and leave declined (paras 1, 3, 10 and 11).
• The rule is for government servants, and the inquiry still decides the job: here the compulsory retirement was not undone, only the suspension pay was saved.

Salary during suspension: the short answer

If you are a government servant and you are suspended, your full salary and benefits continue. Suspension only stops you performing your duties while an inquiry runs; your appointment and your contract of service go on, so your pay goes on (paras 5 and 6).

People search this as salary during suspension, do you get salary during suspension, or suspension period salary in Pakistan. This order answers it for a federal civil servant under Fundamental Rule 53(b); a private job has its own rules.

31 years, then suspended: what happened

A senior clerk had completed more than 31 years of service when, on account of illness, he applied for retirement. His application was not considered. A Medical Board found him unfit for further service, and after an inquiry he was compulsorily retired by a notification dated 12 July 2024 (para 1).

The same notification said "the period of his suspension be treated as extraordinary leave without pay, and pay and allowances paid to him during the period from 06.11.2023 till the imposition of major penalty be recovered from him". His departmental appeal went unanswered. On 2 September 2025 the Federal Service Tribunal partly allowed his appeal: "his period of suspension be treated with full pay and allowance in accordance with Fundamental Rule-53", with no recovery (paras 1 and 3). The department took the case to the Supreme Court.

We checked it in FAI Legal

The order is on FAI Legal's Judgment Search, marked as a citation from the court record, with every paragraph open in the judgment reader. The paragraphs quoted on this page are 1 to 11, and the words of Fundamental Rule 53(b) here are the Court's own quotation of the rule (para 6). We cite the order by the court's case number and date.

Supreme Court, January 2026: suspension is not dismissal

Shakeel Ahmad, J, writing for a bench of two, framed one question: "Whether a civil servant placed under suspension is entitled to receive full salary, allowance and service benefits during the period of suspension?" (para 4). The answer: "It is by now well settled that suspension is not removal, dismissal or termination from service." It is an interim measure; the civil servant "continues to hold the post, albeit without performing duties", and "an employee cannot be deprived of lawful remuneration without express legal sanction" (para 5).

A government appointment is a binding contract of service, and "Any unilateral withholding of salary, without the authority of law, is inconsistent with the terms and conditions of such appointment"; depriving a suspended employee of full pay is contrary to Fundamental Rule 53(b) (para 6). The Court added that suspension "does not amount to a finding of guilt" and that "Imposition of financial deprivation before adjudication amounts to punishment without proof" (para 8). It held that the Tribunal "has rightly held that a suspended civil servant is entitled to full salary and other service benefits during the suspension period", dismissed the petition and declined leave (paras 10 and 11).

The catch: the inquiry still decides

Full pay during suspension does not mean the case against you is over. The inquiry still decides whether you keep the job. In this case the clerk stayed compulsorily retired; what changed was only the pay for his suspension, and the money already paid to him could not be taken back (paras 1 and 3).

The rule is for government servants. Fundamental Rule 53(b) covers a government servant under suspension "other than that specified in clause (a)", so check which part of the rule covers you (para 6). In 1993 the Supreme Court's Shariat Appellate Bench held that Rule 53 and the provinces' matching rules could not take away a suspended government servant's full salary and benefits (Shariat Appeals Nos. 4 and 6 of 1991, decided 15 January 1993; the 2026 order relies on it in para 9). Private employees are not covered by the Fundamental Rules; their pay during a suspension depends on the labour law and the standing orders that apply to them.

If you are suspended without pay

Ask in writing for your full salary for the suspension period, mention Fundamental Rule 53(b) and this order (Supreme Court of Pakistan, Civil Petition No. 4753 of 2025, decided 8 January 2026), and keep a copy with the date you handed it in. This is practical advice, not part of the order.

If the department refuses or does not answer, show your lawyer this judgment. The clerk in this case went by departmental appeal to the Service Tribunal, and time limits apply to both, so speak to a lawyer early.

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The case at a glance

Facts

A federal civil servant, a senior clerk with more than 31 years of service, was compulsorily retired after an inquiry on 12 July 2024; the department treated his suspension as extraordinary leave without pay and ordered recovery of the pay given from 6 November 2023; the Federal Service Tribunal gave him full pay under Fundamental Rule 53 with no recovery (paras 1 and 3).

The question

Is a civil servant placed under suspension entitled to full salary, allowances and service benefits during the suspension (para 4)?

What the Court held

Yes. Suspension is not removal, dismissal or termination; the contract of service continues, and Fundamental Rule 53(b) gives a suspended government servant his full salary and all other benefits; the department's petition was dismissed and leave declined (paras 5, 6, 10 and 11).

Why

The civil servant continues to hold the post, so every right under the contract, including full salary, stays enforceable (para 5); withholding salary without the authority of law is inconsistent with the appointment (para 6); suspension is no finding of guilt, and cutting pay before adjudication is punishment without proof (para 8); the Court also cited the Quran and the Hadith on keeping contracts and paying wages on time (paras 5 and 7), and earlier rulings including the Shariat Appellate Bench's (para 9).

Limits

A short order of two judges, in a federal civil servant's case. It is about pay during suspension, not about the inquiry or its penalty: the compulsory retirement stood. Fundamental Rule 53(b) leaves out the cases in its clause (a), which the order does not discuss. It does not cover private employment.

In the Court’s words

“This petition is accordingly dismissed, and leave declined.”

Civil Petition No. 4753 of 2025, para 11

The law it relies on

What this does not mean

• It does not end the inquiry or cancel a penalty: the clerk in this case stayed compulsorily retired; only his suspension pay was protected (paras 1 and 3).
• It is about government servants under Fundamental Rule 53(b). It does not decide the cases in clause (a) of that rule, which the order does not discuss.
• It does not cover private jobs: a private employee's pay during a suspension depends on the labour law and the standing orders that apply to them.
• It does not say a department can never suspend you. Suspension is lawful as an interim step; what it cannot do is stop your full pay because of it (para 5).
• The reel's opening scene, an attendance machine flashing SUSPENDED and a head clerk saying there is no salary till the inquiry ends, is a drawing of the common claim, not the case's own words.

Questions people ask

Sources

• A v. B (names withheld), Civil Petition No. 4753 of 2025 (Supreme Court of Pakistan, 8 January 2026)
  A civil servant under suspension is entitled to full salary and other service benefits during the suspension period (Fundamental Rule 53(b)); suspension is not removal, dismissal or termination.
• A v. B (names withheld), Shariat Appeals Nos. 4 and 6 of 1991 (Supreme Court of Pakistan (Shariat Appellate Bench), 15 January 1993)
  Rule 53 of the Fundamental Rules and the provinces' matching rules could not deprive government servants of their full salary and other benefits during suspension; effective 30 June 1993.
• Fundamental Rules, Rule 53(b) words as quoted by the Supreme Court in Civil Petition No. 4753 of 2025, para 6 (checked 6 November 2026)

Every quote and section above is traced to the full judgment or statute text by an automatic check that runs on every update.

What the reel says