HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad circuit bench of the Sindh High Court on Friday expressed displeasure over provincial secretaries of health and finance for their failure to release required funds to Liaquat University Hospital (LUH), Hyderabad, and allowing the administrative issue of funds release to end up in court.

The division bench comprising Justices Karim Khan Agha and Faisal Kamal Alam said while hearing a petition filed by LUH`s additional medical superintendent (AMS) Dr Shahid Islam that the court was concerned over the fact Rs575m meant for the LUH had not reached the f acility.

Justice Alam asked secretary of health Syed Zulfikar Shah and secre-tary of finance Sajid Jamal Abro why they did not help release funds and wondered why this petition had to be filed in the first place. Such internal matters of departments should have been handled by the secretaries themselves, he said.

The finance secretary said that funds were released in September 2021 but these could not reach the hospital as the health department`s tendering process was hit by delays. He produced a copy of finance department`sJune23approvalof Rs550.652m abstract bill for LUH.

The petitioner`s counsel`s Ishrat Lohar said that the court`s earlier order had been complied with over withdrawal of funds on abstract bills.

Sindh Additional Attorney General Mohammad Ismail Bhutto objected to filing of the petition by a so-calledfocal person, who was not even an of ficial focal person of the hospital.

The court disposed of the petition, ordering that the `hospital has now received funds.

The petition was filed by LUH`s AMS Dr Shahid Islam without seeking government`s permission and the secretary of health had to face the ire of the court in a matter that was not his primary job.

Ashfaq Nabi Qazi, assistant attorney general, said the petition had been filed by bypassing relevant rules, which did not allow a civil servant to file a case against the government in his official capacity and without prior permission. Therefore, the conduct of the petitioner AMS constituted misconduct and needed to be dealt with under the Sindh Civil Servants (E&D) Rules 1973, he said.