KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has directed an additional health secretary to appear on Feb 8 to inform it about the status of the summaries regarding appointment of staff and other issues related to the under-construction Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical College in Lyari.

A two-judge bench of the SHC headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar also directed the in-charge of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) to file certificate of marks given to the college after the inspection conducted by the members of the PMDC.

The bench was hearing petitions moved by some candidates interested in taking admission to the college against a decision of the PMDC for reducing the seats from 100 to 50.

In the previous hearing, an additional secretary of health submitted that four summaries regarding the college had been submitted to the chief minister and three of them were approved.

However, when the matter came up for hearing on Monday, Babar Qadeer, an official of the health department, said that he had no information about the approved summaries and sought time to come up with a progress report.

Principal of the college Prof Anum Rehman said that the extensions in the contract of college employees had been made, but she had not received the notification yet.

She further submitted that on Aug 15, a list of professors and assistant professors, selected by the selection board, was sent to the secretary of health, but the approval had not been given so far.

The bench observed that one of the summaries was apparently about appointments in the college as it was seeking permission to appoint faculty/staff in the light of recommendations made by the selection committee.

It directed the additional health secretary to be in attendance on Feb 8 and inform the court about the status of the summaries and also asked the in-charge of the PMDC to file the outcome of the inspection.

In the last hearing, the bench had asked the chief secretary as well as the health secretary to ensure that these summaries, moved to the chief minister, were approved within three days so further orders may be passed on theses petitions.

The SHC had also directed the chief engineer to visit the under-construction college and apprise the court about the status of the construction and the time required to complete it.

Earlier, officials of the Sindh works department had submitted that ground-plus-two floors of the college had been completed, but due to shortage of funds the health department had moved a summary to the planning and development department seeking revision of the scheme for further floors.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2019