HYDEERABAD: The Sindh High Court Hyderabad circuit division bench has recommended departmental proceedings against Shaheed Benazirabad district and sessions judge for misconduct.

The bench comprising Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and Justice Mohammad Iqbal Mehar directed the sessions judge, Manazir Hussain Zaidi, to submit his compliance report of the high court’s Oct 10 order.

The matter pertained to the administrative and financial issues of the Peoples University of Medical and Health Sciences for Women, Shaheed Benazirabad district, raised by a petitioner, Mumtaz Ahmed Qureshi.

In its Oct 27 order, the bench has reproduced the judge’s report which says that after having a dialogue with the petitioner, the undersigned [judge] arrived at this conclusion that Mr Qureshi has no locus standi in the matter. The petition is filed with ulterior motive. It is not maintainable and liable to be dismissed with compensatory cost, the report says.

After going through the report, the bench noted that the judge was entrusted with a specific duty under the court’s Oct 10 order which never authorised him to allow petitioner to have a conversation with him for deciding fate of the petition on his own.

It was noted that under the Oct 10 order, the judge was supposed to inspect the teaching hospital affiliated with the university and to submit a detailed report of the raids carried out and action taken.

The bench observed that since the judge was not permitted to have a discussion with the petitioner, his act was a pure case of inefficiency. It added that the manner in which the judge had dealt with the matter prima facie, it appeared to be an act of ‘trespassing’ in the domain of this court which could not be swallowed nor could such a practice on the part of the subordinate judiciary be allowed, particularly when it appeared to be against good order of service discipline and contrary to law/guidelines.

The bench has, meanwhile, ordered the director general of the health services to appear in person in the high court along with a detailed report of all hospitals of the district, particularly the teaching hospital affiliated with the Peoples University of Medical and Health Sciences for Women, after paying surprise visit to the hospital. According to the order, the judge was required to submit a report regarding laboratories within his jurisdiction, showing details of laboratories and names of pathologists operating them. He was supposed to ensure that the laboratories being operated by technicians or unqualified pathologists were stop from functioning forthwith and action was taken against them.

It said that such directives had already been issued to the director general, thus the health secretary should submit explanation for non-compliance. The matter was adjourned till Nov 17.

In his petition Mr Qureshi had stated that after amendments to the Peoples University of Medical and Health Sciences for Women, Shaheed Benazirabad, Act, 2015 all administrative matters of the university were transferred to its vice chancellor. But to date funds, medicines and rules etc were under the control of the respondent Shaheed Benazirabad deputy commissioner, the petitioner submitted.

According to the petitioner, the budget is still lying with the DC due to political interference and certain employees are ‘ghost employees’. He claimed that private clinics, ultrasound examination and x-ray businesses were being run under the supervision of the university’s professors.

He prayed to court to declare the DC’s act of keeping the budget and medicines of university unlawful.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2016