September 16, 2008	Tuesday	Ramazan 15, 1429

KARACHI, Sept 15: The Sindh High Court directed the chief secretary on Monday to issue appointment letters to the medical officers selected by the provincial public service commission.

Eighteen successful candidates approached the high court against the government’s failure to issue them offer/appointment letters even after a lapse of five months of their selection. They submitted through Advocate Mohammad Nawaz Shaikh that the provincial population welfare department invited applications for male and female medical officers in January 2006. The applicants were required to be medical graduates with one year’s experience in medicine and surgery and house job (for male candidates) and one year’s experience in gynaecology and obstetrics (for female candidates).

A written test was conducted for the candidates in October 2007 and 475 female and 23 male candidates were declared successful in January 2008. A viva voce test was conducted in February 2008 and the Sindh Public Service Commission finally recommended the appointment of 131 female and four male candidates as medical officers on March 5, 2008. The government has, however, ignored the SPSC recommendation and failed to issue appointment letters to the selected candidates. The petitioners apprehended that the government may nullify the entire selection process to induct ‘its favourites’.

The court issued notices to the respondent chief secretary and the welfare department secretary and restrained them from filling up the vacancies for which the petitioners had already been selected. The government was unable to explain its inaction and as the petition came up before a division bench comprising Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Justice Zafar Ahmed Khan Sherwani on Monday, it asked the chief secretary to issue offer/appointment letters within a month or inform the court why it was unable to act on the recommendation of the SPSC.

Power crisis

The bench issued notices to the federal water and power secretary and the chairman of the Water and Power Development Authority in three identical petitions agitating frequent power shut-downs on the pretext of load shedding and the increase in tariff despite short supply. The Karachi Electric Supply Company, whose privatization the petitioners have also challenged, has already been put on notice. The notices were issued for October 9.

The petitioners say that the power shortage had made life miserable but no one was prepared to accept responsibility or render a plausible explanation or even assure the consumers that the situation would be improved. Power supply is a public utility and the government could not escape its ultimate duty to ensure it.

One of the petitioners, Syed Iqbal Kazmi, said power distribution was a provincial subject under the Constitution and the Electricity Act. Under Article 157, the government of a province may, to the extent electricity is supplied to that province from the national grid, require supply to be made in bulk for transmission and distribution within the province. The provincial government was also empowered to construct power houses and grid stations and lay transmission lines for use within the province. It may also determine tariff for distribution of electricity within the province and levy tax on the consumption of electricity.

The Electricity Act envisages establishment of an advisory board by the provincial government for matters connected with the distribution of power supply.

Bail for NIT men

Another division bench consisting of Justices Khilji Arif Hussain and Bin Yamin granted interim bail before arrest to National Investment Trust senior vice-president Mirza Sanaullah Beg and assistant vice-president Mohammad Nadir.

They are accused by the National Accountability Bureau of misappropriating about Rs16 million of the funds meant for payment of dividends to the NIT unit holders. An inquiry was initiated by the bureau following a complaint by unit holders, Barkat Ali and Nadeem Ali. They said the cheques issued to them by the trust for payment of dividends on their units were dishonoured by Bank Al Falah for paucity of funds.

Prisons IG’s plea

Inspector-General (Prisons) Yamin Khan has again approached the court for promotion to the next grade. He said a court order on an earlier petition for his promotion to Grade 21 had not been complied with and officers junior to him had been promoted.