Nairobi, June 29 -- Employees dismissed after securing public jobs with forged academic certificates cannot rely on those appointments to challenge their employers' actions or claim pensions and other terminal benefits, the Employment and Labour Relations Court has ruled.

In a judgment reinforcing the government's crackdown on fake qualifications in the public service, the court dismissed a petition filed by three former Kenya Railways employees, finding that their appointments were founded on fraud and were therefore void from the beginning.

The court ruled that no legal rights could arise from illegal employment and declined to stop the State from pursuing recovery proceedings or other lawful action against them.

"The employment of t...