Justice Athar Minallah issued notice to Muhammad Ayub Sheikh in response to a contempt petition filed by Prof Masood Hameed Khan, who was elected as president of the regulatory body of medical profession in 2013.
The court directed the official to appear in person on December 9 and explain why he may not be detained for six months besides attachment of his property.
The judge directed the health secretary to also provide details of his movable and immovable property along with his last declaration of assets. The judge said that during his appearance before the court on October 16, the official had sought time to issue the notification but he failed to do so.
During last hearing, the health secretary had also told the court that Lahore High Court has restrained the federal government from issuing the notification. The court noted that it was an attempt to mislead the court by giving incorrect information regarding the LHC.
“The court is not satisfied with a vague and evasive statement made by the responsible official,” remarked the judge.
Justice Minallah also observed that the conduct of the federal government was alarming and disturbing as the PMDC was almost dysfunctional but the government was refusing to issue notification as required under Section-III of the PMDC Ordinance 1962.
Deputy Attorney General Malik Faisal Rafique conceded that the court’s previous order for issuing the notification was not complied.
The petitioner requested the court to order criminal proceedings against the health secretary for failing to issue the notification despite court direction issued on October 16.
Dr Khan was a part of the six-member caretaker body tasked with holding the PMDC elections after constituting its 76-member council. But, he subsequently got himself elected as the council’s president despite a boycott by members of the Pakistan Medical Association and the Young Doctors’ Association, who had contested the candidature of the interim committee’s members.
They accused Dr Khan and four members of the council — Dr Asim Hussain, Dr Muhammad Awais, Dr Naveed Rashid and Dr Zubair Khalid — of violating the PMDC constitution by contesting the elections themselves.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 6th, 2014.
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