SHC seeks govt’s reply on allegation of appointing 27 nursing staffers without certificates

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday directed the provincial health department to verify whether 27 nursing staff members were appointed without the fulfilment of any codal formalities and nursing education certificates.

The direction came on petition with regard to appointments of nursing staff in the health department. The petitioners submitted that they were not appointed by the health department although they fulfilled all codal formalities.

The petitioners’ counsel filed another application alleging that 27 candidates had been appointed by the health department who did not possess even the nursing certificates at time of their appointments. He submitted that the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) had without fulfillment of any codal formalities recommended their case in the absence of their credentials.

A division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Mohammad Shafi Siddiqui directed a provincial law officer to submit a reply to the application within 10 days. The high court observed that in case, it was discovered that those 27 appointments had been made without credentials, including but not limited to the nursing certificates, appropriate orders shall be passed as it would raise serious questions regarding the credibility of the entire process of the appointment of nursing staff.

The high court observed that it was expected that this matter would not be delayed on the part of the provincial government. The bench also took the list of the 27 candidates and a notification with regard to the withdrawal of nine applicants on record.

The SHC directed the Nazir of the court to keep the merit list of the nursing staff in safe custody till further orders. The high court also directed the office to provide merit list to the petitioners’ counsel and provincial law officer so that they may ascertain what marks the petitioners had obtained and where they stood on the merit list.

The health department had earlier filed a report before the high court, submitting that the Sindh Public Service Commission had recommended 958 successful candidates for the appointment to the post of staff nurse in grade 16 and the Sindh cabinet approved all of them for the issuance of appointment orders after the fulfilment of all the codal formalities.