Nicvd transfer challenged: SHC allows Sindh govt to become party

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court allowed the Sindh government on Monday to become party to a constitutional petition that questions the transfer of NICVD (National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases) from the federal government to the provincial government after the 18th Amendment. A full bench comprising Justice Maqbool Baqar, Justice Faisal Arab and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah also asked the petitioner to file an amended petition. Half a dozen petitioners, including employees of NICVD and the College of Physicians and Surgeons, have challenged the transfer of the prestigious health institution. They maintained that NICVD was a federal and national institution meant to cater to the entire country and not a single province. A national institution can not be handed over to a province and its employees, who have been federal employees for decades, and could also not be transferred to a province overnight.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th, 2012.