The federal ombudsman has directed the Federal Government Employees Housing Authority (FGEHA) to include employees of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) in plot allotment schemes under the federal government quota, ruling that their exclusion was based on an erroneous interpretation of judicial decisions and amounts to maladministration.
The ruling came in response to a complaint filed by Dr SM Tariq Rafi and several other former JPMC employees, who argued that despite court decisions affirming the JPMC’s status as a federal institution, they have been denied participation in FGEHA housing schemes on the grounds that they are not federal government employees.
According to the complaint, the transfer of the JPMC, along with the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases and the National Institute of Child Health, to the Sindh government following the 18th Constitutional Amendment was declared unconstitutional by the Sindh High Court in 2016.
The verdict was subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court, which ruled that the devolution of these institutions was void ab initio and without legal effect. As a result, the JPMC retains its status as a federal government institution and its employees remain federal servants.
The complainants maintained that despite this clear legal position, the FGEHA excluded them from plot allotment schemes reserved for federal employees. They further alleged discriminatory treatment, claiming that several other JPMC officials had been allotted plots or flats through the authority.
The names cited in the complaint included Prof Dr Syed Haroon Ahmed, Dr Muhammad Usman, Dr Shahid Rasul, Dr Nasir Jaghrani and Dr Seemin Jamali. In its defence, the FGEHA argued that the complainants had applied for plots during the period when the JPMC was under the administrative control of the Sindh government and were therefore ineligible for allotment under the federal quota.
It also contended that the SC’s ruling restoring the JPMC’s federal status was prospective in nature and cannot be applied retrospectively. After examining the record and hearing both sides, the federal ombudsman rejected the FGEHA’s arguments. The findings stated that the superior courts had declared the devolution of the JPMC unconstitutional from its inception, meaning that the institution legally remained under federal control throughout the disputed period.
Consequently, JPMC employees are to be regarded as federal government employees at all the relevant times, including when they had submitted applications for housing schemes. The ombudsman further observed that the evidence on record indicates that some JPMC employees had been considered under the same housing schemes while others had been denied similar treatment. Such inconsistency, the ruling noted, reflects arbitrariness and undermines the constitutional guarantee of equality before the law.
The findings concluded that the FGEHA had failed to apply the law in its true perspective and had denied the complainants consideration under the federal quota on the basis of an untenable legal interpretation. This conduct, the ombudsman held, constitutes maladministration under the relevant provisions of the President’s Order No. 1 of 1983.
Accepting the complaint, the federal ombudsman recommended that the FGEHA treat the complainants as federal government employees from the dates of their original applications, and include them in plot allotment schemes under the federal quota accordingly. The authority has been directed to report compliance within 30 days of receiving the findings or provide reasons for non-compliance.
