KARACHI, March 12: Justice Zahid Kurban Alavi of the Sindh High Court has asked the SHC Bar Association president to convene, as early as possible, a meeting of the broad-based committee that he appointed on Feb 18 to help the rival claimants to the stewardship of the Institute of Behavioral Sciences, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan and Dr S. Haroon Ahmed, run it jointly.

The committee, he directed, shall have on the agenda of its first meeting appointment of a reputable firm of chartered accountants to look into the IBS accounts. In the meanwhile, the Pakistan Association for Mental Health, which is headed by Dr Ahmed, would provide doctors thrice a week to the IBS to attend to the patients there from 9am to 4pm. The doctors would not be involved in any activity besides treatment and no impediment would be placed in the performance of their work. Under the Feb 18 order, the committee was to get hold of all the account books and submit a report within a month of the receipt of the order.

The committee, which is yet to take shape, is to consist of the president of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Association or his nominee, the president of the Sindh Red Crescent Society or his nominee, two eminent doctors to be nominated by the Dow and Sindh medical colleges each and the head of the Aga Khan University, besides the Sindh High Court Bar Association president.

Dr Khan, who is in effective control of the institute, challenged the order the same day and his intra-court appeal against it has been pending before a division bench comprising Justice Mohammed Roshan Essani and Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali. There is no stay order against the impugned order, and Justice Alavi told the two parties on March 7 to come up with a compromise formula within three days, failing which the matter would proceed on merit.

As the case was called on Wednesday, Dr Khan’s counsel Barrister Dr Farogh Naseem informed Justice Alavi that three days were too short a time to work out a settlement, particularly because he was under instructions to consult the principal donors, but for whose generous help there would have been no IBS. He said he was not in a position to make any commitment in respect of a compromise formula and the court might proceed with the hearing of the case on merit.

Appearing for Dr Ahmed, Barrister Kazim Hassan submitted that the committee constituted by the court must meet to assist the parties and SHCBA President Muneer A. Malik might be asked to convene a meeting. The case would now be taken up after the receipt of the committee’s report.