ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) issued notices to the federation and others for enacting Medical Teaching Institute (MTI) Ordinance. A single bench of Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani on Friday heard a petition filed by the doctors and paramedical staff of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS).

The IHC bench also served notice to Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Javed Khan for assistance. The federal government, the Ministry of Health, the Establishment Division, and the chairman MTI are the respondents in this case.

During the hearing, advocate Mudassar Khalid Abbasi argued that the PIMS Hospital was established in 1969 and during the PPP it was given the status of university through an Act. He stated the incumbent government had issued an ordinance to privatise PIMS, adding the step was taken to change the structure of the hospital and the ordinance would affect the rights of the PIMS staff.

Justice Kayani questioned whether the status of the civil servants of the PIMS under the Act would not be changed. The counsel contended that the government issued Federal Medical Teaching Institute Ordinance after the promulgation of the Act.

The court further questioned whether the Act was repealed by the Ordinance. Upon that Khalid Abbasi stated the Civil Servants Rules and Regulations were changed through the ordinance. The members of the board of governors were political people. Justice Kayani asked the counsel to clarify whether they admit Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto University Act and disagreed with the ordinance.

He instructed the lawyer to read the MTI Ordinance and said it meant that the same institution would now be operated under two laws. The court noted that under this ordinance all the status of the civil servants there had been changed. The bench further remarked that the employees of the PIMS could not go anywhere else. Later, it issued notices to the respondents and deferred the hearing until January 28.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021