The Lahore High Court (LHC) has declared the seat of Senior Medical Officer (SMO) in Allied Hospital Faisalabad as vacant and said that officials should never accept any foreign or political influence in promoting and appointing civil servants.
The court's verdict came on Friday when it dismissed a petition by Doctor Naseem Tahira Rehman and told the chief secretary to get the vacancy filled up in two months on merit.
The petitioner argued that she had applied for the post of senior medical officer in the Allied Hospital in Faisalabad but the respondent had rejected her application and told Dr Shazia Shahim to join instead. She gave a representation to the chief secretary who passed her orders but the principal refused to allow her to join the service and appointed Dr Shaista Talib who had not applied for the post in time.