Staying put: ZAB Medical College to remain in the city

Division bench told government notification to shift the institution to Nowshera would be withdrawn.

PESHAWAR:

The Peshawar High Court was told on Wednesday that the provincial government has decided to withdraw the notification to shift Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical College from Peshawar to Nowshera.

The information was shared with a two-member bench of Justice Malik Manzoor Hussain and Justice Ikramullah Khan by Additional Advocate General Waqar Ahmad Khan. The court was hearing a petition filed by former agriculture minister Arbab Ayub Khan against the provincial government’s decision to relocate the college.

Waqar Khan said the provincial government would officially withdraw the notification soon and the campus would remain in the city.

On July 17, a division bench of Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Musarrat Hilali restrained the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government from shifting the medical college to Nowshera till further orders.

In the previous hearing, Ghulam Mohiuddin Malik, counsel for the petitioner, told the court that the government had constructed a building for the college and also appointed staff.

He added that K-P Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, who hails from Nowshera, then decided to shift the college to his hometown.

Malik said the decision was taken on political grounds and if the chief minister wanted to set up a medical college in his hometown, the government needs to approve a separate institution for the purpose.

In mid-2012, the previous ANP-led provincial government approved the construction of the ZAB Medical College in Peshawar and decided to offer 50% of the seats to local students at the normal fee.

Foreign students could take up 20% of the seats at US$6,000 a year on a self-finance basis. Of the remaining seats, 20% would be occupied by local students financing themselves and 10% by children of health department employees.

In March 2014, the PTI-led provincial government decided to shift the ZAB Medical College to Nowshera.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28^th, 2014.