Petition against appointmentof hospital director withdrawn

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday dismissed as withdrawn a writ petition filed against the appointment of hospital director of the Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad.

A division bench comprising Justice Syed Muhammad Attique Shah and Justice Sahibzada Asadullah dismissed as withdrawn the petition filed by medical officer Athar Lodhi, seeking stay order on the appointment of Hospital Director Nadeem Akhtar.

During the hearing, Kiran Tanoli, a standing council for the Ayub Teaching Hospital, submitted before the bench that the writ petition had already become anfractuous as the Board of Governors (BoG), Ayub Teaching Hospital, had already appointed Nadeem Akhtar as a hospital director and he had taken charge of the office.

She submitted that the petitioner in the petition was seeking stay order in the appointment, while the hospital director had been appointed.

Second, she also revealed that the petitioner doctor had also taken part in the appointment procedure and he was declared ineligible for the post and then he challenged the appointment.

In the application, the hospital management stated that the petitioner (Dr Athar Lodhi) is facing Anti-Corruption Establishment inquiry in an alleged corruption case, in which the BoG had suspended him for 120 days and then under the law, restored him as a medical officer.

It said the petitioner was appointed as acting hospital director and during that time he issued some contracts and now was facing inquiry in the alleged corruption case.

However, after hearing arguments, the petitioner’s lawyer requested the court that he wanted to withdraw his petition and thus the court declared that this petition is dismissed as withdrawn.