Two individuals claim to be PMDC registrar

SC forms body to suggest what sections of PPC are invoked in the case

ISLAMABAD: The apex court on Tuesday took a strong exception to the working of two registrars in Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) for a year-and-a-half.

The three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, has formed a committee consisting of three lawyers – Ilyas Siddiqui, Waheed Anjum and Gabriel Francis – to suggest the court which sections of Pakistan Penal Code is attracted against whom for the slackness and indifference being shown by the government in dealing with the PMDC for the last 18 months.

Two individuals, Dr Shaista Faisal and Dr Ahmed Nadeem Akbar, appeared before the court claiming to be the registrars of the PMDC. “A most alarming state of affairs has emerged in the PMDC,” the chief justice observed.



The bench noted an executive council of PMDC consisting of 35 members stand dissolved on March 20, 2014 through the promulgation of the PMDC (Amendment) Ordinance 2014. The dissolution of the council created a vacuum and to fill the same an attempt was made by the government to constitute a management committee to run the affairs of the PMDC.

The law was tabled before the National Assembly which adopted the law but the same was disapproved by the Senate on April 23 last year.

As a result the vacuum and uncertainty came to prevail in respect of regulating the medical colleges and the award of degrees among the students, the court noted.  Justice Qazi Faez Isa, a member of the bench, observed: “I am really alarmed that these institutions have become a subject of politics rather a minefield.”

The bench issued notices to AGP, the Pakistan Medical Association and all those who have made complaints against the council.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2015.