Top AJK surgeon wins 7-year legal battle to attain designated grade

Dr Bashir Kanth was deprived of his right to retire as BPS-22 officer after the bureaucracy created hurdles for him

MUZAFFARABAD: Renowned clinician Dr Bashir Kanth, who performed more than 10,000 surgeries and produced 50 civil and army surgeons, has finally won his right to be granted BPS-22 official grade after a seven-year legal battle.

Dr Kanth, who served the profession from 1977 to 2010, was deprived of his right to retire in the said grade as the region's top bureaucracy created hurdles for him.

“In 2010, the then Prime Minister Farooq Haider hailed my medical services and promoted me to BPS-22," Dr Kanth told The Express Tribune on Monday.

"My feelings were at the highest level while receiving the reward from the government but at the same time top bureaucracy refused to retire me in grade 22, and that was the shocking moment of my life,” he added.



Dr Kanth said the top court and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) High Court accepted his plea while recognising his service for the ailing humanity, and he received his right to be promoted to the maiden grade 22 in the AJK health department.

"Ultimately, justice was delivered [to me] after seven-year of legal battle,” the former practitioner expressed.

According to the veteran expert, overhauling the existing bureaucracy was the need of the hour, saying the officers are the servants of the state and answerable to people.

Sharing his future ambitions, Dr Kanth said he wanted to establish organised committee health services, saying his endeavour will be financed by his family and relatives.

Young doctors, he maintained, must continue serving humanity with dedication regardless of religious beliefs, cast or creed.

Besides thanking the judiciary and others, the senior surgeon also expressed gratitude to his lawyers Attaullah Chak and Raja Hanif for fighting his case free of cost.