02 January 2004	Friday	09 Ziqa'ad 1424

PESHAWAR, Jan 1: A single bench of the Supreme Court here on Thursday dismissed an appeal of the NWFP government regarding transfer of a woman district specialist.

The bench comprising Justice Mian Mohammad Ajmal observed that the appellant could not put forward any concrete ground on the basis of which the appeal could be allowed.

The appeal was filed against a judgment of the Peshawar High Court whereby the orders of the provincial health department of transferring a district specialist was declared illegal.

The specialist, Dr Mussarat Jehan, had filed a writ petition in the high court against her transfer from Timergarah to Batkhela. She had stated that she was appointed with 45 other doctors on contract basis for three years as district specialist. She said the government renewed the contracts after the completion of the period. However, the remaining specialists were retained on their posts whereas she was transferred, she said.

The high court accepted her petition a few months back and directed the government to appoint her on the previous post. The provincial government challenged the judgment before the Supreme Court.

Advocate Mohammad Jamil appeared for the specialist and argued that the NWFP government had no powers to transfer her. He said she was appointed as districtspecialist and she could not be transferred from that post. He said the respondent had been discriminated against as no other specialists on contract were transferred.