TLTP REPORT –
ISLAMABAD, (TLTP): People sitting at the helm of affairs in the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination have deliberately defied the Islamabad High Court (IHC) directives to restore Pakistan Medical and Dental Council immediately.
Talking to TLTP on Wednesday, Advocate Umar Sajjad, counsel for Registrar of the Council Brigadier Hafizuddin Siddiqui (retd), informed that his client was denied access to PMDC office even in presence of the IHC’s single bench comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani orders to federal government for immediate restoration of the dissolved Council.
On March 30, a single-member bench of the IHC comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani issued these directions in a petition filed by the PMDC Registrar Brigadier Hafizuddin Siddiqui (retd) and other employees of the council for sealing their offices.
It was October 19, 2019 when President Dr Arif Alvi promulgated an ordinance, which left the PMDC dissolved and paved the way for establishment of the Pakistan Medical Council (PMC). Subsequently, the Ministry of National Health Services sealed the building of the PMDC and informed its 220 employees that their services had been terminated.
However, a single bench of IHC declared the presidential ordinance on February 11 as ultra vires to the Constitution, and restored the PMDC and the services of the employees. Then the ministry issued the direction for sealing the offices of the PMDC on February 13 as a result the reinstated employees were not allowed to enter the offices.
Advocate Umar Sajjad claimed that during the hearing of the matter , the single-member bench of the IHC Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani has expressed dismay over the federal government for its failure to revive the PMDC, adding that Justice Kayani said that the PMDC should be made functional on March 30 and the authorities should break the lock on its building and make its registrar sit there.
“A joint secretary of the ministry has pledged before the single-member bench to observe the court directives in letter and spirit but guards on Wednesday stopped the Registrar and me while denying access to the PMDC”, Advocate Umar Sajjad concluded.
