KARACHI: The Federal Ombudsman, Naveed Kamran Baloch, has ruled that employees of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre are eligible for allotment of residential plots under the Federal Government Employees Housing Authority quota.
He directed the authority to include them in the allotment process from the dates they submitted their applications.
The ruling came in response to complaints filed by a JPMC doctor, S.M. Tariq Rafi, and several other employees, who argued that they had been unfairly excluded from FGEHA housing schemes despite the restoration of JPMC’s federal status.
According to the complainants, JPMC was transferred to the Sindh government following the 18th Constitutional Amendment. However, the transfer was subsequently declared unconstitutional by both the Sindh High Court and the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
The institution was once again put under federal administrative control, reinstating the federal status of its employees.
The employees maintained that despite the restoration of JPMC’s federal status, the FGEHA continued to deny them access to housing schemes reserved for federal government employees.
They contended that the exclusion was discriminatory and violated their fundamental rights.
The JPMC staff had previously been allotted plots and flats under federal housing schemes.
During the proceedings, the Federal Ombudsman sought a detailed report from the FGEHA.
The authority argued that the complainants were not eligible because the JPMC was under the administrative control of the Sindh government at the time they submitted their applications.
After hearing both sides and examining the relevant record, the Federal Ombudsman rejected the FGEHA’s stand and held that the JPMC employees were entitled to be treated as federal government servants for the purpose of plot allotments.
He directed the housing authority to consider their applications under the federal employees’ quota with effect from the dates on which they had originally applied.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026