ISLAMABAD: The Presidency has rejected the appeal of former Health Services Academy Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Shahzad Ali Khan against his dismissal from service.
In February this year, the Federal Ombudsperson for Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace ordered the removal of Prof Dr Shahzad from the position of HSA vice chancellor after finding him guilty of “quid pro quo harassment” of a junior female colleague.
In a representation filed by Prof Dr Shahzad against the FOSPAH order, Justice Irfan Qadir, consultant (legal affairs) at the President’s Secretariat (Public), declared that although the reasons advanced by FOSPAH for dismissing the petitioner from service on grounds of sexual harassment were not well-founded, the retaliatory measures subsequently taken by him against the junior female colleague could not be overlooked.
“Such conduct clearly resulted in the creation of a hostile work environment towards the respondent and, in the circumstances of the case, also constituted gender-based harassment against her. Since these facts stand established on the record, the punishment awarded by the FOSPAH is, in any event, commensurate with the petitioner’s conduct. Consequently, the present representation is dismissed,” read the ruling.
It added that while FOSPAH’s ultimate outcome of the impugned decision was upheld, and the penalty of dismissal was accordingly maintained. The consultant also declared that, no interference with the ultimate outcome of the impugned decision was warranted. He added that the record of Prof Dr Shahzad was not favourable. “The petitioner’s plea of having been “honey-trapped”, when considered alongside his subsequent conduct involving extreme retaliatory measures against the respondent, including the abrupt termination of her services, rendered his conduct highly unconscionable,” he ruled.
