Verdict in SZPMI devolutioncase suspended

LAHORE

A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Wednesday suspended the single bench verdict under which devolution of Sheikh Zayed Post graduate Medical Institute (SZPMI) to Punjab government was set aside besides discarding all the appointments including chairman of the institution made by the province. 

A two-member bench issued the order on an Intra Court Appeal filed by Punjab government against the single bench order.

Single bench comprising Justice Farrukh Irfan Khan, on June 16, had issued the order while hearing a number of petitions challenging a 2012 order issued by the cabinet division, concerning transfer of administrative control of the institute along with its components, assets, liabilities, staff etc from the federal government to the provincial government of the Punjab. The petitioners had also challenged the working of the hospital under a trust. The single bench held that the impugned notification of 2012 issued on the advice of the then prime minister did not carry legal sanction behind it and as such it was liable to be struck down on the constitutional plane. The judge had ordered that the SZPMI shall stand restored to the federal government in position where it was before the impugned devolution within a period of six months.

The single bench had also held that the government failed to show any nexus of the Trust with the SZPMI or to show that the Trust was instrumental in any activity involved in the creation of the institute in question.

The judge further declared illegal all the appointments, including the chairman of the institute, which were made by the Punjab government after the purported devolution. The appellate counsel claimed that the single bench decision amounted to interfere in the government police matter which he could not do.

PCO judge: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah Wednesday sought recommendations of a committee formed to deal with the pension and other benefits for the PCO judges. The chief justice asked the deputy attorney general (DAG) to submit within three months the report of the committee. The chief justice was hearing a petition of LHC former PCO judge Syed Sajjad Hussain seeking payment of pension like other judges. During the hearing, the DAG said the committee headed by federal law minister had been constitution and it would give its suggestions within three months. The petitioner counsel had submitted that the petitioner was a PCO judge and the Supreme Court had declared deposed judges who had taken oath under the PCO after the imposition of emergency by Gen Pervez Musharraf in November 2007. He said the petitioner was not given the perks and privilege including the pension whereas the president exercising his discretionary powers allowed pension to five other PCO judges.