LAHORE: A Lahore High Court division bench has declared the eligibility criteria of 65 per cent marks or equivalent in the FSc examinations for appearance in entrance test announced by the University of Health Sciences to be illegal, without jurisdiction and in violation of the policy issued by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council being the regulatory authority.
Announcing its short order, the bench comprising Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed and Justice Chaudhry Shahid Saeed observed that all students who were not allowed to appear in the entrance test and had scored 60 per cent or above marks in the FSc examination were eligible for appearing in the test and were also allowed to appear in the test to be arranged by the UHS.

The bench further observed that there was no pass percentage for entrance test and minimum pass percentage of 60 per cent announced by the UHS had been declared illegal and in conflict with the policy guidelines given by the PMDC.

All students who had appeared in the entrance test held in July last were eligible to apply for admission to MBBS in all universities, whether public of private, on the basis of the criteria fixed by the varsities in line with PMDC regulations, the bench ruled.

The bench observed this while announcing its verdict on several petitions filed against the procedure of entrance test for MBBS.

The petitioners were represented by advocates Mohammad Azhar Siddique, Mian Abdul Qaddus and Nasir Mahmood Qureshi.

Dr Abdul Basit argued on behalf of PMDC while Jawad Hasan, additional advocate general, represented the Punjab government.

The counsel of the petitioners have announced to challenge the decision in the Supreme Court for allowing all the students to reappear in the medical entrance test because UHS had no authority to conduct examination before the announcement of FSc results, and most of the students were short of time to prepare for the test held in July 2010 and for A-level students, the test was out of syllabus.

ELECTION: An election tribunal of the Lahore High Court on Monday disposed of an application filed by PML-N MNA Malik Riaz, challenging authority of the local commissioner constituted by the tribunal about the admissibility of documents and ruled that any observation made by the commissioner had no legal value.

Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed also held that objection raised on the commissioner’s authority would be decided by the tribunal at the time of final disposal of the petition. The tribunal, however, adjourned main petition till Sept 16 for further hearing.

PPP leader and Evacuee Trust Property Board chairman Asif Hashmi challenged Riaz’s election from NA-118, Lahore. Hashmi accused Riaz of obtaining a fake graduation degree and sought his disqualification under Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution.Dawn