PESHAWAR, July 18: A Supreme Court bench here on Thursday dismissed a leave-to-appeal petition of the NWFP government and upheld the restoration of the services of three leaders of the Pakistan Doctors Association and Pakistan Medical Association.

The provincial chief of the PDA, Dr Liaquat; a former president of the PDA, Dr Kamal; and provincial president of the PMA, Dr Hussain Ahmad Haroon, were removed from service by the provincial government in 1999. Last year, the NWFP services tribunal set aside the dismissal order. The government through its chief secretary filed a leave to appeal petition before the apex court.

The bench comprising Justice Mian Muhammad Ajmal, Justice Tanveer Ahmad and Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza ruled that the government had not fulfilled legal requirements before terminating the services of the three respondents. The three were suspended after a strike was observed by the doctors community in 1998 on the call of the PDA and the PMA against the appointment of Saleem Khan Jhagra as health secretary and against the issuance of an ordinance, which, they claimed, would pave way for the privatization of government hospitals. On May 29, 1999, their services were terminated.

The additional advocate-general, Sardar Shaukat Hayat, appeared for the government and contended that the respondents had observed an illegal strike. He argued that they were government servants and had no right to observe the strike and instigate other doctors to follow in their footsteps.

The bench inquired from the counsel whether the strike was an individual act of the respondents or a collective decision of the community. The bench observed that when the strike was observed by the entire community service then why the three respondents were singled out and removed from service. It further observed that observing strike by an association was its constitutional right for which its members could not be penalized.

Advocate M. Sardar Khan, who represented the doctors, argued that the government had not fulfilled legal requirements before terminating their services. He contended that they were never served with proper notices required under the Efficiency and Disciplinary Rues.

It is worth mentioning that the tribunal had observed that the doctors’ demand for posting a technical secretary was not without substance as the health department was a technical department.