PESHAWAR: The Medical Teaching Institutions Appellate Tribunal has suspended several appointments to the Maulana Mufti Mahmood Hospital, Dera Ismail Khan, including that of director (finance), by the chairman of its board of governors until further orders.

It summoned the BoG chairman on April 24 to give legal justification for those appointments.

The tribunal, comprising chairman retired Justice Abdul Shakoor and members Abdul Ghafoor and Mansoor Tariq, was hearing an appeal of director (finance) Shahid Farooq against his suspension from that post as well as the subsequent appointment.

Apart from appointment of Ziaullah Khan as the director (finance), the appellant has also submitted appointment orders by the chairman for numerous other employees under Section 7(4) of the MTI Reforms Act, 2015, in the name of exigency of service.

Summons BoG chairman for explanation

The tribunal observed that in light of that section of the law, it examined the appointment order of the director (finance) and other employees whose appointment orders were available on the case file and reached the conclusion that the tribunal couldn’t close its eyes to that act of the board chairman that was not only illegal but causing immense loss to public exchequer as well.

It ordered the chairman to appear before it on the next date of hearing in order to satisfy it as to how he could make such appointments and until his appearance, the appointment order for the director (finance) and other employees in question will remain suspended.

“In addition to above we are of the considered view that the learned counsel of the appellant has made out a prima facie case in his favour, therefore, his appeal deserves to be admitted for regular hearing,” it declared.

The tribunal also sought the response of the respondents, including the BoG of the MTI DI Khan, to the matter and stopped them from taking any “adverse action” against the appellant until its further orders. Advocate Habib Anwar appeared for the appellant and said that his client was appointed as director finance of the MTI DI Khan on Apr 12, 2022.

He said that the terms and conditions for the appointment declared that the services were extendable for a second term on a performance basis.

“Right from the appointment in 2022, the respondents always acknowledged the significance, contribution and dedication of the appellant through different appreciation certificates which span over his entire career. However, all of a sudden, the BoG chairman issued the impugned order on Feb 22, suspending the services of the appellant on so-called charges of misappropriation of funds/ financial malpractices and misuse of authority,” he insisted.

The counsel said though it was mentioned in the impugned order that the enquiry committee and the charge sheet or statement of allegations would be provided separately but the same had not been provided to date.

He added that though the appellant was still holding the statutory post of director finance, the respondents with mala fide intent, out of the blue, issued another impugned office order on Feb 22, 2025, whereby Ziaullah Khan had been appointed against the same post on the pretext of exigency appointment.

“The impugned appointment order was contrary to the scheme of law available in section 7 (4) read with section 15 of the MTI Reforms Act, when seen in the context that the appellant was still holding the said post,” he said.

The lawyer argued that the appellant, after the issuance of impugned orders, repeatedly approached respondents for provision of the so-called charges as leveled in the impugned suspension order as well as the qualification and experience of the director(finance), but no heed was paid to any of his application submitted under Right to Information Act.

He said that the chairman had not only illegally appointed the director(finance) but numerous other appointments were also made, in the name of exigency of service, which was illegal.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2025