PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has suspended the recent orders of the provincial government to close down the project of establishing the Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical College in Peshawar and transferring all its assets to the health department.

A bench consisting of Justice Roohul Amin Khan Chamkiani and Justice Mohammad Ibrahim Khan issued the order in this respect after holding preliminary hearing into a petition filed by 10 employees of the college, who challenged the denial of funds for the project in the Annual Development Programme 2019-20.

It directed the respondents, including provincial chief secretary and secretaries of health, finance, and planning and development departments, to file their replies to the petition within a fortnight.

The petitioners said despite the issuance of clear directives by the high court in a contempt petition on May 23, 2019, for making the medical college functional within four months, the government hadn’t allocated any funds for it in the ADP 2019-20.

Seeks response of relevant officials over denial of funds for college

The bench observed that whether after the clear-cut direction in the contempt petition for putting the constructed premises of the Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical College (ZABMC), Duranpur, Peshawar, functional in all respects, the government, especially the P&D department, was competent to drop it from the ADP 2019-20 and the initial appointments against different posts in the college could be dispensed with was a question to be resolved on hearing the respondents.

After the current petition was filed in the high court, the government issued a letter on June 25 for the closure of the project implementation unit of the ‘Establishment of ZABMC Peshawar’ and handing over of its assets to the health department.

Ghulam Mohyuddin Malik, lawyer for the petitioners, said on Jan 24, 2012, the then government had approved the establishment of the ZABMC, while the health secretary was directed to carry out its feasibility study.

He added that as the feasibility report was produced, the then chief minister approved Rs64.601 million for the recruitment of basic science faculty and Rs 7.601 million for the PIU on Mar 27, 2012, and ordered the start of classes in 2013.

The lawyer said 90 per cent of the project’s work was completed in the building of the Provincial Health Services Academy, while Class-IV employees were recruited but the then chief minister, Pervez Khattak, approved the shifting of the college from Peshawar to his hometown, Nowshera, with a mala fide intention as Nowshera didn’t have suitable building for the college.

He said former provincial minister Arbab Ayub Jan moved the court in 2014 against the college’s relocation, while the advocate general and an additional advocate general appeared for the state produced on Oct 23, 2014, a notification showing that the plan to shift the college to Nowshera was dropped.

The lawyer said the government later backtracked from its decision prompting Arbab Ayub Jan to file a contempt petition.

He added that the court directed the government to make the medical college functional within four months.

“Now, the respondents have dropped the college project from the ADP 2019-20 in violation of the court’s order,” he said.

The lawyer said after the project’s exclusion from the ADP, his clients won’t serve as civil servants in the new fiscal year.

He requested the court to order the government to allocate ADP funds for the college.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2019