KARACHI, Feb 1: The Sindh High Court put off on Friday the hearing of various petitions challenging the locus standi of the IBA tests for admission to government medical colleges of Sindh to Feb 14 after the Advocate-General, Raja Qureshi, submitted a written reply rebutting the petitioners’ contentions in the petitions.

The matter was fixed before a division bench comprising Justice Ghulam Rabbani and Justice Zia Pervez. But since the matter was partly heard by another bench, it was adjourned to Feb 14.

Ghulam Qadir Jatoi, counsel for some of the petitioners, also filed a rejoinder to the affidavit filed by the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi.

When the petitions challenging omission of names of the petitioners from the IBA test’s second list came up before a division bench of the SHC on Jan 25, the AG Sindh had sought more time for seeking the government’s instructions.

At the very outset, Mr Qureshi had requested the bench, comprising Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed and Justice Zia Pervez, to postpone the hearing for a few days because a meeting was scheduled, for Jan 29, with health department officials to consider the contentions of the petitioners whose counsel, S. M. Iqbal and Mahmood Alam Rizvi, had proposed re-examination of a limited number of candidates.

They had also requested for allowing the petitioners to deposit their fees with the medical colleges while the matter was decided by the court. The petitioners prayed that the respondents should be directed to make arrangement for deposit of fees with the respective medical college in the interest of justice.

Mr Qureshi was supposed to inform the court about the government’s decision with regard to the proposition.

The counsel for petitioners Mukesh Kumar and Permeshari, Ghulam Qadir Jatoi, filed rejoinder to the counter-affidavit filed by Abdul Hameed Khan, Coordinator Testing Services of the IBA.

The petitioners claimed that the coordinator was debarred in 1996 due to his alleged involvement in the leakage of questions papers at Karachi Medical and Dental College, by then director of the IBA Hafeez A. Pasha.

They questioned that why this person was employed as coordinator on contract basis, and again asked to continue after resignation.