The Lahore High Court has ruled that the government or chief minister does not enjoy absolute power under the law to appoint a person of their choice as administrator of Punjab Human Organs Transplant Authority (PHOTA) by ignoring the candidates on the top of the merit list prepared by relevant authorities after a detailed selection process, without giving cogent reasons which would be subject to judicial review.
This ruling was given by Mr Justice Sajid Mehmood Sethi of Lahore High Court while allowing a petition by Prof Dr Mehmood Ayaz challenging the appointment of Dr Asad Aslam as administrator of PHOTA by the former chief minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar, and declaring the Punjab government notification in this regard null and void. Justice Sajid Mehmood Sethi, in his detailed judgement on the petition by the petitioner Dr Mehmood Ayaz through his counsel Ahsan Bhoon Advocate, set aside the notification of the appointment of Dr Asad Aslam for being illegal, unlawful and without lawful authority. The judge referred the matter to the chief minister with the direction to appoint the candidate highest on merit and in case, there are justifiable reasons for not appointing the candidate, proceed to appoint any other candidate in the order of priority as per the recommendations already made by the Monitoring Authority/Committee, preferably within a period of 15 days from the receipt of certified copy of this order.
Petitioner’s counsel told the court that a monitoring authority, headed by the health minister, interviewed the candidates and consequently, placed the petitioner at the top of the merit list while the respondents Prof Dr Asad Aslam and Prof Dr Farid Ahmad Khan at Serial No 2 & 3 respectively.
