Appointment of new chairman was challenged before the LHC. PHOTO: FILE
The appointment of Justice (r) Shabbir Raza Rizvi as chairman of the inquiry committee of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council has been challenged before the Lahore High Court.
Chaudhry Muhammad Arif, chairman of Hashmat Medical and Dental College Gujrat, said the federal government, through the ministry of national regulations and services secretary, constituted an inquiry commission on January 24 to look into the affiliation of 19 medical colleges.
He said the rules specified that the chairman of the inquiry committee be a retired judge of the Lahore High Court. However, Rizvi was not a retired judge, said Arif, he was ousted for being a ‘PCO judge’ [taking oath under the provisional constitutional order under General (r) Pervaiz Musharaf after the then chief justice had issued a direction to the contrary]. He said also the matter of PMDC representatives was pending before the Lahore High Court, because of which a new chairman of the inquiry committee could not be appointed.
Arif requested the court to declare the notification for the formation of the inquiry commission and Justice (r) Rizvi’s appointment illegal and unconstitutional.
He also requested the court to direct the authorities not to take coercive action against the college while the petition was pending.
UHS vice chancellor summoned
The Lahore High Court on Tuesday summoned the vice chancellor of the University of Health Sciences for not releasing the examination schedule for MBBS students of a private medical college.
Justice Muhamamd Khalid Mahmood Khan directed the vice chancellor to appear in person on December 18 (today).
The students, through their counsel, informed the court that their college had been affiliated with the UHS, but despite that, the university administration had not issued the examination schedule for them.
The lawyer requested the court to issue directions to the UHS administration to release schedule for the students of their medical college.
Voter verification
A Lahore High Court division bench on Tuesday sought a reply from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on a petition challenging an order of the election tribunal about verification voters’ antecedents through inspection thumb impressions in NA-118, Lahore.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Riaz Malik had assailed the order of the election tribunal, saying that such inspection would discredit the entire election.
Additional Attorney General Naseer Ahmad Bhutta argued that the ballot papers were used for secret balloting and could not be made public. He further said thumb impressions of voters were not taken on ballot paper but on a another file.
The bench adjourned further hearing for Wednesday (today) and sought a reply from the ECP about the procedure of casting vote.
Hamid Zaman, candidate of the PTI, had obtained the order from an election tribunal on ballot papers’ inspection through thumb impressions in the constituency.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 18th, 2013.
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