Humayun Khan
PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court (PHC) has granted status quo against dissolution of Board of Governor Medical Teaching Institution (MTI) Act and ordered provincial government to submit detail report in this regard, on Wednesday.
During hearing Advocate General Amir Javeed along with counsel Shumail Butt and Ali Gohar Advocates appeared before court.
A two-member bench of Peshawar High Court (PHC) comprising of Justice Abdul Shakoor and Justice Syed Arshad Ali granted status quo on dissolution and de-notification of Board of Governors (BoGs) of 10 Medical Teaching Institution (MTI) hospitals of the province by the caretaker provincial government.
The bench heard the arguments of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Advocate Ali Gohar Durrani in the case who said that the caretaker government illegally approved the dissolution of all BoGs in a cabinet meeting on March 16, adding that the government has no power to take such decision. He said that the move to dissolve BoGs was a violation of Section 230 of the Election Act 2017 as the caretaker government was mainly responsible to run the day-to-day affairs and assist the Election Commission in conducting fair and transparent elections.
The Counsel for the petitioner said that unfortunately, the caretaker government was taking more interest in affairs which were not the mandate of the government, adding that the previous government had introduced the MTI Act in 2015 under which BoGs of ten major hospitals were formed.
The purpose of BoGs was to run the administrative affairs of MTI Hospitals, and they have produced good results, he maintained the dissolution of MTI-BoGs was against the law. The two-member, after hearing the arguments, reserved its decision on the petition. However, Caretaker Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government has dissolved and de-notified the Board of Governors (BoGs) of all Medical Teaching Institutions (MTI) with immediate effect and handed over administer affairs of BoGs to alternate bodies till constitution of the new boards.
Separate notifications issued by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department said that the BoGs of MTI-LRH Peshawar has been dissolved and BoGs Peshawar Institutes of Cardiology (PIC) would take care of the administer affairs of the hospital till further order.
Similarly, BoGs of MTI MMC/BKMC, Mardan, KMC/ KTH/ KCH, MTI KGMC/HMC Peshawar, MTI QHAMC/NMC, Nowshera, MTI KGN/BMC, Bannu and MTI AMC/ATH, Abbottabad were dissolved and de-notified and the administrative affairs would be looked after by MTI, BKMC/GKMC Swabi, BoGs MTI, PIC, BoGs MTI PIC Peshawar, BoGs MTI, BKMC, Swabi, BoGsMTI MMTH/GMC, DI Khan, BoGs MTI, GKMC/BKMC, Swabi respectively until further order.
PHC suspends by-poll on three NA seats scheduled for April 30
PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court (PHC) ordered suspension of the by–elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa scheduled for April 30 for three National Assembly constituencies, on Wednesday.
A two-member bench of PHC comprising of Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice SM Attiq Shah in a detailed judgement issued here said that as interpretation of the provision of Articles 223 and 224 of the constitution requires considerations, therefore the by-polls in the three NA constituencies are suspended till further order. The bench also issued notice to the Attorney General for Pakistan in terms of Order XXVII-A CPC for interpretation of the two articles of the constitution.
Earlier Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, the Counsel for the petitioner told the court that the schedule of by-elections was in violation of the explicit provisions of Articles 224(4) of the constitution. The Deputy Attorney General contended that that the impugned notification has been issued strictly in accordance with the spirit of Articles 223 and 224 of the constitution and elections can be held within 120-day before the expiry of life of the national assembly. It is pertinent to mention here that the Election Commission of Pakistan had issued April 30 as the election date for NA-22 Mardan, NA-24 Charsadda and NA-31 Peshawar.
