KARACHI: Govt accepts Nazim’s plea for supremacy of merit
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Dec 11: The selection board for admission to the government-run medical colleges in Karachi has decided to give admission to some 20 students who had made what the health department called a mistake while filling out their admission forms.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the selection board on Tuesday which was presided over by its chairman Prof Illahi Bakhsh Soomro. Other members of the board are Prof Akber Haider Soomro, Sindh Medical College Principal, Prof Tariq Mirza, Prof Capt Naseeruddin, Prof Nargis Soomro, Prof Manzoor Ahmed Mirza, Prof Zia Ahmed Shaikh, Prof Tariq Sharafatullah and Prof Raeesa Anjum.
Sources told Dawn that the members of the selection board had decided that those 20-odd girl students would be admitted to the medical colleges in Karachi because their names had appeared on the merit list.
They added that the decision had been taken following the scrutiny of objections received by the selection board.
Officials say that the decision of the selection board will be final in respect of the placements of students. They quote the clause number 13 of the “Prospectus and Application Form of MBBS and BDS for medical institutions of Sindh 2001-2002” which reads as follows: “The government shall appoint a selection board for each selection centre.”
The clause number 16 further says: “The candidates will be selected by the selection board constituted by the government at each selection centre. The chairman shall preside over the selection meetings. The decision of the selection board will be final.”
Meanwhile, City Nazim Naimatullah Khan said the city government had presented the case of girl candidates of Karachi to the governor who accepted its stand.
Speaking at an Iftar party on Monday, the city Nazim said those girl students who had made it to the merit list for admission to the government-run medical colleges in Karachi would get admission.
Earlier, the city Nazim had a meeting with the governor. The meeting was also attended by the chief secretary, health minister, health secretary, and the chairman of the selection board for admission to the medical colleges in Karachi.
The Nazim said it would have been a great injustice if these students, who had secured 82 per cent marks, would not have got admission to city medical colleges.
The Karachi Nazim said that recruitments in the education department were stopped because the Education EDO was taking such steps without taking the city government into confidence.
Mr Khan said that before taking the oath, he had promised that all actions would be taken on merit.
“During the past four months, I have done my utmost to keep my promise.”
He said the limited resources of Karachi prevented him to come up with the solutions to all the problems that ailed the city.
He said he had brought to the notice of the president that without increasing the resources, the problems of Karachi could not be resolved.
He pointed out that the city government was empowered to impose health and education taxes. But since the Karachiites were not being provided quality health and education facilities, these taxes would not be imposed.
However, for the enhancement of the resources, the government had been approached for granting the permission to impose Karachi port and road use special taxes.
He said billions of rupees were needed for the construction of good roads in Karachi and to solve the problems of water and sewerage.
The Nazim said the city government was spending Rs500 million on the repair of roads in the first phase whereas work on the installation of 10,000 streetlights was in progress.
He said the city government had saved Rs25 million in the previous estimate for the installation of lights through negotiation with the contractor.
