PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday set aside the suspension of Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) hospital director Col (retd) Dr Gulzar Ahmad Khan, who was removed from office by the Board of Governors (BoG).
The court also allowed the ongoing inquiry against him to continue but directed the BoG not to make any final decision regarding his suspension or dismissal until further orders.A two-member bench comprising Justice Wiqar Ahmad and Justice Farah Jamshed heard the miscellaneous application filed through advocate Shumail Ahmad Butt.
The petitioner submitted that Col (retd) Gulzar had been appointed hospital director of HMC for a five-year term but was suspended following differences with the newly appointed BoG chairman.
His counsel argued that the petitioner had been performing his duties in accordance with the law and that the dispute arose over the appointment of a director finance. According to the petitioner, he opposed the appointment proposed by the BoG chairman because the appointments of the finance director and certain other senior officials had already been challenged before the high court, where notices had been issued.
He maintained that after opposing what he described as an unlawful appointment, an inquiry was initiated against him and he was served with a show-cause notice. He expressed apprehension that he could be removed before the completion of his contractual tenure despite previously obtaining interim relief from the high court.
The lawyer told the bench that his client had been appointed in 2025 under Section 10 of the Medical Teaching Institutions (MTI) Act, 2015, for a five-year term.
He pleaded that the petitioner was suspended on July 21 last and an inquiry was initiated against him, which was subsequently endorsed during a BOG meeting held on July 23. He said that these actions violated an earlier interim order of the high court restraining the respondents from taking action against his client.
Counsel for the hospital, however, argued that the proceedings against the petitioner were lawful and that the court’s earlier interim order had only restrained the respondents from taking final action, not from placing him under suspension or conducting an inquiry.
After hearing the arguments, the court issued a detailed written order.The bench observed that its earlier order had clearly restrained the respondents from taking action against the petitioner and that proceeding against him despite the court’s directions amounted to an excess of authority and a violation of the courts order.
The court further held that the BoG had no authority under the applicable rules to suspend a serving hospital director, observing that the rules relied upon by the board did not confer such powers.
The bench held that the two new allegations did not justify suspending the petitioner, particularly when an interim order protecting him was already in force. It ruled that both the suspension and the subsequent inquiry proceedings initiated after the court’s order could not be sustained in law.
The bench also observed that the issue of suspension and the related inquiry agenda had not been included in the BoG’s meeting agenda and that the meeting had been convened through WhatsApp in haste, raising serious questions about the decision-making process.
The court declared the suspension of Col (r) Gulzar void, while directing the BoG to continue the inquiry without issuing any final order regarding his suspension or removal from service. The hearing was adjourned until September.
