KMC told to pay appropriate stipends to house job officers

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has directed the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and others to pay stipends to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital house job officers in accordance with the relevant notification.

Faisal Afridi and others moved the court seeking the declaration that the petitioners are bound to be paid stipends at the rate of Rs69,600 a month, on account of being house job officers, under the notification from February 1, 2024.

The petitioners challenged the offer letters issued on April 15, 2023, for contravening the notification concerning monthly stipends that had been issued on November 28, 2022. Their counsel said the petitioners are MBBS graduates employed as house job officers, and while the notification provides for a stipend of Rs69,000 a month, the offer letters unlawfully stipulate Rs45,000.

He said that the stance of the respondents in the comments appear to be inconsistent with the law established by the Supreme Court in the case of the Rehman Medical College, which held that the government-mandated minimum stipend for house job officers must be paid irrespective of any private agreement.

He also said that the monthly stipend for house job officers is fixed at Rs69,600, but the respondents unlawfully reduced it to Rs45,000 in violation of the said notification and earlier court directions.

He pointed out that the Karachi Medical & Dental Council, being under the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, is bound by provincial laws and notifications, and that failure to pay the notified stipends is arbitrary and without jurisdiction. He asserted that the respondents’ conduct undermines the government’s policy of recognising and supporting medical professionals.

The respondents’ counsel said the petitioners have misrepresented facts, and relied on documents, including the letter issued on September 2, 2022, which pertain only to Covid-19 duties, and therefore, do not apply to them. He argued that the petitions are misconceived, and liable to be dismissed.

After hearing the arguments of the counsels, an SHC division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha said that the core issue pertains to the payment of stipends to house job officers in the light of the notification issued on November 28, 2022, which prescribes a minimum monthly stipend of Rs69,600.

The court said the SC has conclusively held that the minimum stipend fixed by the government for house job officers/doctors is binding, and must be paid irrespective of any private arrangement, undertaking or agreement to the contrary.

The bench said that it has been held by the SC that such statutory entitlements cannot be curtailed, modified or waived through coercion or contractual stipulations that defeat the purpose of the law.

The court said that the stance of the respondents seeking to justify payment at a rate lower than the government-notified stipend is contrary to the settled law, and amounts to defiance of the binding notification.

The bench said the offer letters issued on January 29, 2024, and April 15, 2023, to the extent they prescribe a stipend below Rs69,600 a month, are not in consonance with the decision of the SC in the case of the Rehman Medical College supra and of no legal effect.

The SHC directed the competent authority of the respondents to pay the petitioners stipends at the rate of Rs69,600 a month in accordance with the notification with effect from February 1, 2024.