PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court has set aside suspension order for the hospital director of Hayatabad Medical Complex, a major medical teaching institution in Peshawar, despite issuance of a stay order by it last month.
A bench consisting of Justice Wiqar Ahmad and Justice Farah Jamshed directed that the inquiry proceedings against the petitioner Colonel retired Gulzar Ahmad Khan (hospital director) may continue in accordance with law. It said that he should extend full cooperation to the inquiry committee, however, no final order of suspension or termination should be passed against him.
The court had on July 21 granted interim relief to the petitioner and ordered that the inquiry started against him may continue; however, order of his termination or suspension, should not be made till the next date of hearing. However, he was suspended the same day by the board of HMC.
The petitioner has filed an application in the main petition against his suspension order.
Directs authorities to continue inquiry against petitioner
After discussing legal status of the impugned suspension order of July 21, 2026, the bench ruled: “In light of above discussion, this court is prima facie satisfied that the impugned suspension order has been passed in blatant disregard of the restraining order of this court, constitutes a colorable exercise of authority, is founded upon insufficient and untenable grounds, and was wholly unwarranted in the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case.”
“The impugned action also appears to be contrary to both the letter and the spirit of Section 10 of Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act, 2015,” the bench observed. The bench directed the respondents including the Board of Governors (BoG) of HMC to file comments to the petition.
The bench directed the relevant high court office to list the main writ petition before the court in the month of Sep.
Senior counsel Shumail Ahmad Butt appeared for the petitioner and stated that his client was appointed as hospital director for a five years’ term guaranteed under Section 10 of KP MTI Reforms Act, 2015, on Dec 12, 2025.
He said that the petitioner was performing his duties in the said capacity when BoG highlighted alleged shortcomings in his performance and he was directed to submit reply to the show-cause within three days.
He said that the petitioner challenged the show cause notice and raised a number of grounds including malafide of BoG chairman, colorable exercise of authority, guarantee of tenure etc. He added that the court granted interim relief to him on July 21, 2026, but he was suspended by BoG the same day, showing its malafide.
The counsel representing the respondents justified the impugned suspension by placing reliance upon Paragraph 18.4 of Human Resources Manual of the MTI.
The bench observed that the said manual didn’t disclose the source of its statutory authority, rather Clause 1 thereof expressly stated that the manual merely served as a reference guide on human resource policies, procedures and the rationale governing their implementation and enforcement.
Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2026