PHC puts Secretary, DG Health on notice

Seeks explanation from Ogra, OGDCL over non-compliance of orders

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Monday issued notices to secretary and director general (DG) of the Health and Services Department in a writ petition of employees of Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) who have sought service structure.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Roohul Amin Khan and Justice Syed Afsar Shah issued the notices to secretaries Health, Finance and Establishment Departments and Director General Health Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

They were directed to submit a reply as to why service structure was not issued to the petitioners even in 30 years. Muhammad Ismail and 15 other employees of the EPI working as Cold Chain Operator, Mechanic and Technician had filed the writ petition through their lawyer Muhammad Ijaz Sabi, seeking service structure from the government.

During hearing, the lawyer submitted that the petitioners were inducted in the department some 30 years ago. He said that the EPI was run by four categories of technical employees, including Cold Chain Operator in PBS-5, Cold Chain Mechanic in BPS-8, Cold Chain Technician in BPS-11 and Cold Chain Supervisor in BPS-11.

He said these employees were appointed against a particular post and the scale and continued to work throughout his career against the same post and scale without having any prospect of promotion due to non-availability of their service structure.

The lawyer said that director general Health and Services Department through a letter issued on June 4, 2009 informed secretary Health that the EPI staff having no service rules had no chance of promotion.

The lawyer argued that secretary Health through a letter issued on June 17, 2009 informed the DG health that the proposed new service rules may be based on the new prescribed proforma and be accompanied by working paper.

He submitted that as per demand of the DG Health, the secretary Health also provided job description to the petitioners. He said that the DG Health then prepared a working paper and submitted to the Standing Service Rules Committee along with the job description and proposed rules, but the committee in its meeting made certain observations.

Meanwhile, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Monday sought explanation from the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) and Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) within one week for non-compliance with the court orders on supply of liquid petroleum gas (LPG) to the province’s companies.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Roohul Amin Khan and Justice Syed Afsar Shah directed the Ogra and OGDCL to explain their position on non-compliance with the court’s decision, which was a violation of Article 158 of Constitution.

The court observed in the order that interim relief in supply of 50 tonnes per day LPG would start from next hearing to the petitioner company Sarhad Gas Private Limited if Ogra and OGDCL failed to submit their replies. The court fixed March 1, for the next hearing into the case.

During the course of hearing, the petitioner’s lawyer Iftikhar Hussain Gilani submitted that 800 tonnes LPG was being produced per day in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and its consumption in the province was 415 tonnes per day.

He submitted that despite half consumption of the total production of LPG, the gas was not being properly supplied to the companies in the province including the one owned by the petitioner.

He said that LPG was directly supplied to Punjab for its onward supply to the companies in the province, which was violation of Article 158 of Constitution and a historic decision of the PHC that it made in 2010.

The counsel submitted that another bench of the high court on January 19 issued directives to the respondents to implement the judgment of the court regarding supply of the natural gas to both commercial and consumers of the province and sought explanation from the authorities concerned.

“Compliance with Article 158 of the Constitution means that there will be no loadshedding of natural gas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as the province produces more natural gas than what it consumes,” the lawyer said.

The petitioner said the high court, in its December 7, 2010, order on several petitions had directed all stakeholders to adhere to Article 158 of the Constitution in letter and spirit via-à-vis the supply of gas and therefore, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should take precedence over other parts of the country in meeting gas requirements.