ISLAMABAD: The Superior Court of Islamabad (IHC) has given the attorney general a week to submit a response on identical petitions filed against the recent dissolution of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC).
The development occurred on Friday after Judge Mohsin Akhtar Kayani resumed the hearing of the petitions and Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan, the National Secretary of Health Services Allah Bakhsh Malik and a representative of the newly formed Medical Commission of Pakistan ( PMC), among others, appeared before the court. .
The attorney general told the court that the National Assembly had approved the bill to replace the PMDC by the PMC on Wednesday and now the proposed law was being sent to the Senate for approval.
On Wednesday, a session of the lower house of parliament began after Prime Minister Imran Khan held a meeting of the parliamentary committee of his Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) at the House of Parliament, ordering the lawmakers of the party to Send all bills to be submitted during the approved session, particularly the one intended to replace the PMDC with the PMC.
400 employees have lost their jobs due to this movement, the court said
Subsequently, all 11 presidential ordinances were approved by the National Assembly within half an hour.
Abdul Rahim Bhatti, the registrar's attorney and 30 other officials of the former PMDC, informed the court that with the dissolution of the PMDC, about 400 regular employees became unemployed.
The attorney general informed the court that the government had not invited applications for PMC positions. However, he looked for time to present a detailed answer.
The PMC lawyer, on the other hand, said that since the Supreme Court and provincial superior courts were also hearing the same petitions, the IHC lacked jurisdiction to deal with this matter.
However, the court ordered the attorney general to respond within a week and postponed the hearing.
The former PMDC registrar, retired brigadier Dr. Hafizud Din, and 31 other employees said in their petitions that, although the PMDC could be dissolved by a law of parliament, its president, vice president and executive committee would remain intact until the appointment of newly Arrived after the elections to be held within a year.
In addition, the federal government was authorized to appoint an officer, not less than the rank of BS-20, as administrator to head the executive committee, as per the request. The administrator and the executive committee must exercise the powers of the council until the constitution of a new council.
According to the petition, the higher court in 2018 also established criteria for the promulgation of an ordinance that has also been followed in the present case.
It said: "The Senate of Pakistan on August 29, 2019, after due deliberations on the provisions of the Ordinance and voting … disapproved the Ordinance of the Medical and Dental Council of Pakistan 2019. However, the President of Pakistan has promulgated again the identical provisions of the PMDC Ordinance 2019. "
The petition went on to state that the services of PMDC employees had been canceled without giving them an adequate opportunity for a hearing. He expressed the apprehension that the newly formed PMC could hire the services of new employees against sanctioned and contractual positions through another way that would jeopardize the rights acquired to serve the former employees of the PMDC.
He asked the court to declare that the ordinance for the establishment of the PMC is unconstitutional and, in the meantime, allow former employees of the PMDC to continue working on the newly formed commission.
Published on Dawn, November 9, 2019
Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1515749/ag-gets-week-to-file-reply-on-pleas-against-pmdc-dissolution