Cabinet division runs afoul of court
Cabinet division has not yet appointed new chairman and dean of Shaikh Zayed Post Graduate Medical Institute (SZPGMI).
ISLAMABAD:
The cabinet division has ignored a Lahore High Court (LHC) decree to appoint new chairman and dean of Shaikh Zayed Post Graduate Medical Institute (SZPGMI), throwing the matter into the cold storage for more than a year.
The cabinet division, last month, wrote to the law and justice division for the appointment of a new chairman of the SZPGMI but the law division said the court will make this decision.
Law Secretary Masood Chishti said that law division would offer legal assistance to the cabinet division. “Cabinet division secretary Abdul Rauf Chaudhry, after taking instructions from Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, would issue notice for appointment of the awaited new chairman and dean of the institute,” he said.
The Lahore High Court (LHC) had suspended the incumbent Chairman Anwar Ahmad Khan on July 29 2009 and ordered to appoint a suitable candidate immediately. “The most senior doctor at hand should take over after removing the sitting dean,” the court order said.
However, Khan appealed to the court, which gave till September 12, 2010 for the appointment of new chairman.
Amid legal complication and lack of interest by departments concerned the LHC also asked cabinet division to seek permission from the prime minister to appoint the new chairman of the SZPGMI by the set deadline.
Earlier, the cabinet division sought legal advice from the law division to avoid contempt of court as a three-member bench of the LHC, on a plea by Professor Muhammad Saeed, head of the gynaecology department at the institute, directed the law and justice division that the selection process of the appointments should be fair and advertised in the print media.
“I am the most senior doctor at SZPGMI and it is my right to serve as chairman because the incumbent chairman, Dr Anwar, is six years junior to me,” Saeed said.
Meanwhile, LHC also conducted a hearing of the incumbent chairman, who has been serving at this post for the past eight years, for violating the criteria set by the cabinet division that does not allow a person to serve for more than three years.
Khan denied the aforesaid allegations and said that he will adhere to the court rulings. Though he denied any link with political parties, cources say that Khan had approached Pakistan Muslim League-N leader Sardar Zulfikar Khan Khosa, who had asked the prime minister for an extension in his tenure.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 18th, 2010.
The cabinet division has ignored a Lahore High Court (LHC) decree to appoint new chairman and dean of Shaikh Zayed Post Graduate Medical Institute (SZPGMI), throwing the matter into the cold storage for more than a year.
The cabinet division, last month, wrote to the law and justice division for the appointment of a new chairman of the SZPGMI but the law division said the court will make this decision.
Law Secretary Masood Chishti said that law division would offer legal assistance to the cabinet division. “Cabinet division secretary Abdul Rauf Chaudhry, after taking instructions from Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, would issue notice for appointment of the awaited new chairman and dean of the institute,” he said.
The Lahore High Court (LHC) had suspended the incumbent Chairman Anwar Ahmad Khan on July 29 2009 and ordered to appoint a suitable candidate immediately. “The most senior doctor at hand should take over after removing the sitting dean,” the court order said.
However, Khan appealed to the court, which gave till September 12, 2010 for the appointment of new chairman.
Amid legal complication and lack of interest by departments concerned the LHC also asked cabinet division to seek permission from the prime minister to appoint the new chairman of the SZPGMI by the set deadline.
Earlier, the cabinet division sought legal advice from the law division to avoid contempt of court as a three-member bench of the LHC, on a plea by Professor Muhammad Saeed, head of the gynaecology department at the institute, directed the law and justice division that the selection process of the appointments should be fair and advertised in the print media.
“I am the most senior doctor at SZPGMI and it is my right to serve as chairman because the incumbent chairman, Dr Anwar, is six years junior to me,” Saeed said.
Meanwhile, LHC also conducted a hearing of the incumbent chairman, who has been serving at this post for the past eight years, for violating the criteria set by the cabinet division that does not allow a person to serve for more than three years.
Khan denied the aforesaid allegations and said that he will adhere to the court rulings. Though he denied any link with political parties, cources say that Khan had approached Pakistan Muslim League-N leader Sardar Zulfikar Khan Khosa, who had asked the prime minister for an extension in his tenure.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 18th, 2010.