NAB not authorised to probe affairs of private medical colleges, rules PHC

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has declared that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has no authority to investigate the affairs of private medical colleges or inspect these institutions as it was the power of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC).
A single bench of Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel on Thursday announced the decision reserved by a division comprising the chief justice and Justice Muhammad Daud Khan.
The court allowed the writ petitions of four private medical colleges including Jinnah Medical College, Peshawar, Al-Razi Medical College Peshawar, Women Medical College Abbottabad and International Medical College Abbottabad filed against the issuance of letters to the medical colleges, asking them to ensure presence of all staff and cooperation in inspection of the colleges’ record, facilities and recognition documents. The bench in its verdict stated that to inspect the medicinal colleges’ affairs and matters was the job and jurisdiction of PMDC and not of the NAB. The court set aside the action of issuance of the letters.
The petitioners’ lawyers Abdul Rauf Rohaila, Fawad Saleh and Minhaj Ahmad Khan argued that only the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council had the authority to determine whether such institutes had the staff, building and laboratory equipment to meet the standards of a college. They argued the NAB did not have the authority to conduct such an inquiry.
The NAB in his defence submitted that it had received complaints that the medical colleges lacked facilities and standard required for a college under PMDC rules. In its letters to the colleges of the province it was stated that the inspection of the colleges was also subject to inquiry against the officials of PMDC who had recognised the colleges.