PESHAWAR: The lawyers for several petitioners, who have challenged the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act (MTIA) 2015 in the Peshawar High Court, told a larger bench of the court on Tuesday that the law was unconstitutional and was aimed at bringing autonomous medical teaching institutions under the control of provincial government through board of governors.

They contended that the impugned law was in conflict with the Civil Servants Act 1973 as the terms and conditions of services of civil servants working in these medical teaching institutions were changed in arbitrary manner.

The five-member bench headed by Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel rose for the day when one of the lawyers, Mian Muhibullah Kakakhel, appearing for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chapter of Pakistan medical Association, was advancing arguments.

The bench will resume hearing into these 13 petitions on Wednesday (today).

Provincial advocate general Abdul Lateef Yousafzai and lawyer Arshad Ali representing the MTIs will defend the impugned Act.

The petitioners include some doctors, PMA, associations of paramedics and nurses, Teachers Association of Khyber Medical College and others.

Some petitioners are likely to withdraw their petitions after reaching an agreement with the provincial government.

Mushtaq Ali Tahirkheli, lawyer for former medical superintendent of Ayub Teaching Hospital Abbottabad Dr Iftikhar Ahmad, explained the background of different laws governing the health sector.

He said initially, the Ayub Teaching Hospital Abbottabad was governed by the Ayub Medical College Board of Governors Ordinance, 1978 but later, the ordinance was replaced by the NWFP Medical and Health Institutions Reforms Act, 1999.

The lawyer added that afterwards, the Health Care Service Ordinance, 2002, was introduced to give autonomy to teaching hospitals in the province.

He said his client, Dr Iftikhar, was first replaced by the provincial government in 2007 but the Peshawar High Court had restored him ruling the replacement was an interference in the affairs of an autonomous institution.

Tahirkheli said the high court’s judgment was later upheld by the Supreme Court.

He said the provincial government had only to appoint the chief executive of the teaching hospitals, while the respective management committees were to manage affairs of the hospitals.

The lawyer said at a later stage, the petitioner was again replaced by the provincial government but he was reinstated by the high court.

He said the petitioner was once again replaced in Mar 2015 by a retired army major in his place under the MTIA 2015.

Tahirkheli said the superior courts had consistently given opinion in favour of the autonomy of teaching institutions and that by enacting the MTIRA, the government had attacked the independence of the judiciary.

He added that the government had wiped out the judgments of the superior courts under the new law.

The lawyer said in a haphazard manner, the relevant Bill was passed by the assembly without debate before being sent to the governor for assent.

He asked how such an important law could be passed in a single day without debate by any member.

“The powerful bureaucracy wanted to restore its previous powers in the teaching institutions and for that purpose, the Act was passed and Board of Governors replaced the former management committees of four MTIs,” he said, adding that board members were appointed through dubious procedure of a search and nomination council.

He said the BoGs were also empowered to prescribe procedure for appointment, terms and conditions of service, disciplinary matter and other service matters for the employees of the MTIs, which was in violation to the Civil Servants Act.

Lawyer Mian Muhibullah Kakakhel said there were 10 MTIs in the province but the government had applied the impugned act to only four – ATH, Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar, Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar and Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar- which showed mala fide on part of the government.

He claimed that the applicability of the Act was withdrawn from Bacha Khan, Gaju Khan, Bannu and Gomal medical institutions through a notification.

The lawyer said most BoG members were irrelevant persons and not doctors and were mostly having links with the chief minister or the speaker of the provincial assembly.

He added that the members from medical profession were mostly practicing medicine abroad and not in the country.

The lawyer said the impugned Act did not provide service protection to senior officials in the medical profession and they could be removed any time.

Opposing the private practice of doctors in government hospitals, he said the doctors receiving salary from government had been permitted to practice at the hospital and use the government’s resources.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2015