HYDERABAD: A special division bench of the Sindh High Court, Hyderabad circuit, on Thursday suspended the Sept 20 notification issued by the chief secretary under which Abdul Sattar Jatoi, a BS-20 officer, was lately reposted at the Liaquat University Hospital (LUH). He had earlier been removed by the Sindh Services Tribunal (SST) and the judiciary.

The health department had some two years back sought abolition of the post of ‘director admin, accounts & development’ held by Mr Jatoi for a considerably long period.

The special bench comprising Justice Zulfiqar Ali Sangi and Justice Amjad Ali Bohio was formed after Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput, during the previous hearing last week, recused to hear the case for being a member of the Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences (LUMHS) syndicate.

While suspending the Sept 20 notification, the bench adjourned the matter to October 8.

Mr Jatoi, through his counsel, filed a counter-affidavit to reject the allegations levelled against him by the petitioner, Jan Mohammad Lakho.

Alluding to petitioner’s claim that a Jan 25, 2019 notice was issued by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to the secretary health to seek Mr Jatoi’s personal profile, the respondent claimed that he did not receive a call-up notice from NAB nor was any inquiry conducted against him by the bureau.

He submitted in court details of his service record, including promotions as well as the demotion made under certain order of the Sindh Services Tribunal (SST) and dismissal of his appeal against the SST order by the Supreme Court.

He referred to the March 3, 2023 order of SHC’s Sukkur bench which led to his removal from the post of ‘director (admin, accounts & development)’ at the LUH. Such order was questioned before the SC, which allowed him to approach SHC Sukkur bench. The Sukkur bench then passed an order on Oct 12, 2023, rescinding part of the March 3, 2023 order which said: “He [respondent] shall not be appointed in any tertiary hospital shall remain rescinded, not to be read as part of order”.

He said he was posted as additional director development in BS-19 in health department’s development wing. On March 27, 2024 he was promoted as “Director (Planning)” BS-20 and on Sept 20 he was posted as “Director” (BS-20) in LUH. Rejecting the charges against him, he said the 2018 inquiry was conducted by a fact-finding committee which resolved that complaint against him be treated as false and fabricated.

He said he was exonerated in the Rs350m ‘fake letter’ inquiry on Dec 7, 2023 by the then CS (Dr Mohammad Fakhre Alam) after an inquiry conducted by Mohammad Essa Memon. He also denied the charges of financial embezzlement and illegal appointment of 182 employees in the LUH. He said no material was presented to substantiate the allegations levelled against him by petitioner.

Mr Jatoi claimed that he had returned the two LUH vehicles to the administration on Sept 10 (10 days before his fresh posting in the LUH), and said that only one vehicle (GS-638) was in his possession as it was registered in the name of director (admin, accounts & development).

Riazat Ali Sahar, representing petitioner Jan Mohammad Lakho, argued that the respondent was reposted as ‘Director’ in BS-20 at the LUH despite the fact that the health department had already sought abolition of this post and another BS-19 posts two years back in July and then in Nov 2022 under intimation to SHC’s Sukkur bench.

His fresh reposting has come while the present petition is pending an inquiry, already initiated by NAB, according to the lawyer, who informed court that such post of ‘Director’ did not exist in any tertiary hospital in Sindh.

Dilating on respondent’s service period, he said Mr Jatoi remained posted on the same position at the LUH for eight years in a row.

The counsel said that CS Dr Fakhre Alam exonerated him in spite of the fact that in the inquiry ordered by the health secretary, he was found involved in the matter of a fake letter moved in an attempt to get Rs350m released.

Justice Zulfikar Sangi wanted to apprise himself of facts. After being briefed by the lawyers, the judge wondered: “When respondent officer was found responsible by health department inquiry how did CS [Dr Fakhre Alam] exonerate him. It is quite illegal”.

The judge also observed that committee said the fake letter was managed by respondent. He noted that the CS didn’t give any cogent reason for the exoneration.

Justice Sangi asked from the NAB prosecutor that what happened to its 2019 inquiry, but did not get a satisfactory reply from him. He said while NAB inquiry was under way and petition was being heard, he was reposted at the LUH in BS-20. “We suspend the Sept 20 notification,” Justice Sangi ordered.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2024