PHC orders inquiry into KMC appointments

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to appoint a committee to hold an inquiry in the light of the order of Supreme Court into the alleged illegal appointments of the dean and chairmen of the departments at the Khyber Medical College (KMC).

“We direct the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through its chief secretary that it may, in compliance with the apex court order issued on September 18, 2018, constitute a high-powered committee to hold an inquiry into the grievance of petitioners related to the alleged illegal appointment of the dean (Khyber Medical College (KMC) and respective chairmen of its departments and recommended its proposal for the decision of the government, as it was done in the case of appointment of dean KMC,” said a detailed judgment of the two-member bench comprising Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Abdul Shakoor.

The court ordered that the needful be done by the government as soon as possible.

The judgment was passed in the writ petitions filed by Prof Dr Mustafa Iqbal, who is serving as professor and head of the Department of Ophthalmology in KTH, Dr Shoaib Khan, associate professor in KTH and others,

The bench observed that after examining the order of Supreme Court issued on September 18 and inquiry report of the committee constituted, it reached the conclusion that the purpose of the petition and connected petitions had already been served.

It said that in the instant petition as well as in connected petitions, the stand of the petitioners is that the appointment of the incumbent dean and chairmen of the respective disciplines is illegal and liable to be revoked.

The court declared that the aforesaid human rights case will be restored back in case the KP government does not act in accordance with the direction of Supreme Court.

The court stated that the Supreme Court had already taken the case related to the appointments/promotions in various MTI teaching hospitals of the province.

It was explained in the judgment that the Supreme Court in the case of Young Doctors Association, KP had directed the provincial government that it must scrutinise all the appointments and promotions carried out in various MTI hospitals and the illegal and irregular appointments be revoked.

It said that as a consequence of direction of the apex court, the KP government constituted a committee to inquire into the appointment of dean of KMC that has been challenged in the petitions.

Citing the reasons, it said, three different selection committees were constituted for the selection of the dean KMC, but none was done with the approval of the Board of Governor (BoG) and under section 6 of the MTI regulations.

It noted that criteria used for interview and evaluation of the academic qualification and experience of the candidates were neither approved by BoG nor selection committee. It said the KTH management shared no document containing such an approval.

It said the check-list used for interview was confusing, misleading and faulty and should not have been used. It argued that selection on merit cannot be ensured using such criteria.

In the judgment, it said, the selection committee rated the education, training, professional qualification and experience of candidates through oral interview rather than detailed scrutiny of academic qualification and experience of each candidate. It opined that this wasn’t an appropriate method of evaluation of the candidates’ educational qualification and experience.

It said that a civil servant applying for a post in an autonomous body through open competition shall first get a no objection certificate (NOC) from the employer under West Pakistan (Application for Post Rules) 1957. As per the available record, it said the dean neither obtained NOC from the Health Department nor resigned from the post of professor in light of the Health Department instructions. It noted that he even he did not avail the extraordinary leave to join post of Dean.

It said that the incumbent dean holds two posts simultaneously and is enjoying perks and privileges gtp, the both positions.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) President Dr Hussain Ahmad Haroon said that the Supreme Court of Pakistan had up till now issued three reminders to the KP government to submit compliance report in the court about the apex court directions regarding revoking the appointments and promotions made against the MTI Act and PMDC regulations. He added that the last reminder was issued on November 13.