LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has set aside devolution of Shaikh Zayed Postgraduate Medical Institute (SZPMI) to the Punjab government and appointments, including of the chairman made by the province.

Justice Farrukh Irfan Khan issued the verdict on petitions by All Pakistan Paramedical Staff Federation-SZPMI and others challenging a 2012 order by the cabinet division on the direction of the then prime minister transferring the administrative control of the institute along with its components, assets, liabilities, staff etc from the federal government to the provincial government of the Punjab.

Petitioners’ counsel argued that the SZPMI was established by the federal government and its management was run by Board of Governors under a resolution on May 29, 1986.

They said under the 18th Constitutional Amendment, the institute was given to the Punjab government through the impugned notification issued on Feb 14, 2012. The institute at the time of devolution was under the administrative control of the cabinet division and not under the federal ministry of health as such it could not be devolved. The institute on account of its autonomous status did not fall under the domain of 18th Amendment. Also, the SZPMI was not established under any trust.

Defending the devolution, a provincial law officer argued that the institute was established under a trust formed on Nov 6, 1973. He said the trust was not meant for the establishment of hospital or medical colleges in Punjab only but also in other provinces of the country.

The law officer said although the SZPMI was established as autonomous institute yet the funds were provided to it by the trust. He said the then prime minister transferred the administrative control of the institute to the government of Punjab. He also defended post-devolution appointments made by the province.

A federal law officer argued that the decision of the hospital’s devolution had not been taken by the cabinet, which was mandatory under the law.

In his verdict, Justice Khan observed that the impugned notification of 2012 did not carry any legal sanction behind it and as such it was liable to be struck down.

The judge ordered that the SZPMI stand restored to the federal government in position where it was before the impugned devolution. The judge also declared illegal all the appointments, including the chairman of the institute, made by the provincial government after the devolution.

Justice Khan passed same verdict in 2017, however, a division bench suspended the decision and remanded the matter back to the single bench with a direction to decide it afresh after hearing point of view of the federal government.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2019