The defendants’ counsel argued that the FIR against his clients was based on malafide intention. PHOTO: FILE
Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Muhammad Anwar Khan Kasi on Friday reserved judgment in a case against 10 Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) officials, seeking quashment of an FIR.
On a complaint of two Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MNAs, Nasir Khan Khattak and Dr Muhammad Azhar Khan Jadoon, who are also members of the national assembly committee on health, the Secretariat police had registered a case against 10 PMDC officials, who were allegedly involved in issuing a notification regarding its executive committee’s controversial elections in 2013.
The FIR had been registered against PMDC officials including former president Prof Masood Hameed, registrar Raja Amjad Mehmood, former members of the executive committee Prof Ghulam Qadir Kazi, Dr Saadat Khan, Dr Khurshid Ahmad Nasim, Prof Syed Muhammad Awais, Prof Hafeezullah, Prof Abdus Salaam, Prof Azam Yousifani and ex-adviser Dr Asim Hussain.
The defendants’ counsel argued that the FIR against his clients was based on malafide intention and they were not involved in issuing the notification of the controversial elections.
He said that the health ministry has already ordered fresh elections for the PMDC executive committee, however, the complainants have obtained a stay against it. He requested the court to quash the FIR.
Standing counsel, Zahoor Akhtar Awan, however, argued that the FIR had been registered against the officials on the complaint of lawmakers and the police were investigating the issue and it could be not suspended unless the prove was complete.
The Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination has also requested the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to register a case against the officials. The agency, hoever, has not registered a case, citing the police investigating into the matter.
FIA Director (legal) Qasier Mehmood told the court that the agency was verifying facts of the matter while the police were already investigation the case. After hearing arguments from both sides, the court reserved the judgment until the next week.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 17th, 2014.
COMMENTS (1)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
The only solution to the ongoing crisis in PMDC is to dissolve it completely and establish provincial medical councils.