PHC seeks reply from KP govt over MTI Act 2018

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has sought a written reply from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and other respondents in a writ petition challenging the impugned Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Medical Teaching Institutions Act 2018.

A division bench headed by Justice Syed Afsar Shah issued the notice to government through secretary Health, Medical Teaching Institute, Khyber Teaching Hospital (MTI/KTH) through hospital director, KTH Board of Governors, through its chairman, Khyber Medical College (KMC), through its dean, and Khyber College of Dentistry (KCD), through its principal. The court directed the respondents to submit a reply before the next hearing.

The petition was filed by Dr Qaiser Inayat, Professor of Anatomy, Chairman and Head of the Department of Anatomy, Khyber Medical College (KMC), affiliated with Medical Teaching Institute (MTI).

When the bench took up the petition for a hearing, the counsel for the petitioner submitted the present government soon after installation in 2018 once again brought the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Medical Teaching Institutions (Reforms), Amendment Bill, 2018.

He pointed out that the government passed the draft-bill in a manner, which not only smacked of partiality, denial of democratic norms, violation of the assembly rules of procedure and the government rules of business but also through a procedure that has been tainted with mala fide in law as well as facts.