SHC issues notices to NICVD, others on plea against executive director’s appointment

The Sindh High Court has issued notices to the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), health department and others on a petition against the appointment of the institute’s executive director on a contract basis.

Petitioners Asadullah and others submitted in the petition that the provincial government had appointed Prof. Tahir Saghir as executive director NICVD on a contract basis for four years in November 2023.

They submitted that the office of the director general audit Sindh has issued an audit inspection report of account records of the NIVCD for the period of 2023-24 in which numerous corrupt malpractice and irregularities have been pointed out.

They said that audit inspection report mentioned irregular and unjustified appointment of head of administration under grade 18, unjustified payments of salaries to employees without any entries, improper services of human resources departments, irregularities observed in trading process, irregular procurement on account of medicines and unjustified financial burden on governments due to irregular creation of liability, amongst others, which have caused huge financial losses to the government and the institution.

The petitioners submitted that it has transpired in the auditor general report that the executive director revealed serious irregularities in financial management, procurement processes and recruitment policies within the NICVD.

They said the chief financial officer of the NICVD as well as Transparency International also called for an inquiry in respect of four major areas, including irregular appointments, excessive payments and expenditure, questionable procurement and financial practices. They said the audit report highlighted that an amount of Rs4million was paid to the employees without any record whereas one person was appointed without having any requisite educational qualification.

They submitted that the high court had also declared the appointment of the administrator appointed by the respondent executive director as illegal.

Their counsel said that after the auditor general report it has been evident that the respondent has grossly misused his official position and power by making numerous illegal and politically influenced appointments without observing merit, transparency or the lawful procedure, thus causing heavy financial losses to the national exchequer.

It was submitted that the NICVD being a public-funded institution receives billion of rupees annually from public funds and any misuse thereof directly affects the taxpayers and public at large.

The court was requested to suspend the appointment of the respondent executive director and direct the provincial government to initiate disciplinary proceedings against him.

An SHC division bench, headed by Justice Mohammad Faisal Kamal Alam, after the preliminary hearing of the petition, issued notices to the NICVD, health department and others and called their comments on the petition.