He said people do not know what was discussed in the committee set up for the 18th Amendment. Similarly, when the apex court examined the vires of 18th Amendment in the case challenged by the bar associations, they did not know about the debate in the Parliament on the amendment.
A five-member larger bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar was hearing the Sindh government's appeals regarding transferring the ownership of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) and National Institute of Child Health (NICH), Karachi, from the federation to the Sindh government and the Sheikh Zaid Hospital in Lahore to the Punjab government.
Raza Rabbani, appearing on behalf of National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, said that though a detailed debate was not held in the Parliament on 18th Amendment, the committee discussed it for 9 months and it received as many as 981 suggestions regarding the Amendment.
He argued that after the 18th Amendment the health became the provincial subject. The court questioned whether or not the federation a health centre for the research of any specific disease like cancer if it deems it necessary. Rabbani contended that the federation can establish it but it should be regulated by a provincial government. He said if provinces could not run hospitals in their jurisdiction then the Article 137 of Constitution becomes redundant.
The Chief Justice remarked if the Federation spends money on construction of building and then why it can't run the centre/hospital in any province and hand it over to the province. He observed geographical location of a hospital is not relevant for automatic devolution of hospital as some legal instrument is required for the purpose. He gave the example of Evacuee Trust Properties and Employees Old Age Benefit scheme.
Rabbani said after the 18th Amendment the role of Federation in health in provinces ceased. Earlier, Farooq H Naek, representing the Sindh government, contended that after the 18th Amendment these hospitals should be devolved to the province. He said that the Sindh High Court has made three determinations and one was in the favour of the provincial government while the two others were against it.
Naek argued that on the basis of these determinations, the SHC has decided that these institutions would remain with the federation. He said health and hospitals have never been on the federal and concurrent lists and they all fell under residuary which is the provincial subject. He said that the devolution of these centres never took place under Article 270AA of Constitution. The case was adjourned until today (Friday).