HYDERABAD: A division bench of Sindh High Court comprising Justice Adnan ul Karim Memon and Riazat Ali Sahar has issued notices to respondents in a petition challenging posting of Liaquat University Hospital medical superintendent (MS) Syed Irshad Hussain Kazmi, whose licence was suspended for five years.

The licence was suspended by the PMDC in 2022.

The notices were issued for December 19 to the MS, chief secretary and health secretary of Sindh, director general of health services and Pakistan Medical & Dental Council (PMDC).

The petition was filed by Shahzaib Sohail as a writ of quo warranto because the respondent MS is holding a public office. The petitioner is represented by Advocate Raja Arsalan.

It was submitted in court that the MS was posted on Nov 13 despite the fact that his medical licence (Registration No. 23554-S) stands suspended for five years under an order of the PMDC disciplinary committee on Nov 21, 2022.

The petitioner said that respondent was penalised for preparing a false, erroneous and fabricated postmortem report of a man, Faisal Ramzan Mugheri, thereby committing medical misconduct, professional negligence and falsification of medico-legal evidence. The PMDC had subsequently imposed a fine of Rs500,000 on him, the petitioner stated.

He said that respondent had filed an appeal (188-C-MT-01/2023) before Medical Tribunal Islamabad, challenging the disciplinary committee’s order. However, it was an admitted position that no interim relief, suspension or stay was granted by the tribunal against the order in favour of the respondent MS.

Consequently, he said, respondent’s suspension remained fully operative, valid and enforceable in the eyes of law and respondent continued to be a person legally debarred from practicing medicine or holding any medical or administrative post that required an active PMDC licence.

The petitioner alleged that the respondent chief secretary and health secretary illegally posted him as the MS of a major public hospital. Such an appointment makes mockery of public health administration, violates statutory rules and defeats the very purpose of regulatory oversight, according to the petition. He argued that suspension of his licence rendered the respondent MS legally incompetent to discharge medical, supervisory, administrative and medico legal duties. He said that respondent without a valid licence supervised medical staff, sign medical / administrative documents requiring medical authority, oversee medico-legal matters or issue certifications or oversee hospital operations requiring professional competence thus very qualification for the post stands absent.

He referred to Sections 38 and 42 of the PMDC Act, 2023 that “no person may practice medicine or hold any medical or relevant administrative appointment unless he possesses a valid and active registration”. He said that upon suspension under the Section 44, the practitioner’s name stands removed for the suspension period.

He prayed the court to issue a writ of quo warranto declaring that respondent MS was not qualified and not legally entitled to hold the office of the LUH MS and that his appointment was illegal and liable to be struck down. He said that the respondents should be directed to remove him from the said post and ensure compliance with PMDC’s disciplinary order.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2025