KARACHI, March 27: A division bench of the Sindh High Court allowed on Thursday 21 final-year students expelled from Sindh Medical College (SMC) to appear provisionally in the MBBS (final) examination beginning on March 31.

After the exam is over on April 20, the 21 petitioner students will appear before the SMC principal and produce the original mark sheets of their Intermediate (pre-medical) examinations, permanent residence certificates, domicile certificates and the “offer letters” issued to them by the college at the time of their admissions.

If the documents are found valid and in accordance with law by the college authorities, their admissions will be regularized and the expulsion order withdrawn. Their exam result will also be declared together with that of the regular candidates.

If the documents submitted by the petitioners are found fake or fabricated, their result will be withheld.

The order was passed by a division bench, comprising Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Justice Rehmat Hussain Jaferi, after hearing the petitioners’ counsel, Raja Qureshi, and Advocate-General Anwar Mansoor Khan, who was assisted by Additional Advocate-General Abbas Ali.

Another division bench, consisting of Justice S. Ahmed Sarwana and Justice M. Mujibullah Siddiqui, had earlier in February declined an identical request by several fourth-year students expelled by the SMC for obtaining admissions by fraudulent means. The bench observed that it had not barred the petitioners from appearing in the professional exams and it was for the college authorities to decide the matter.

Contesting the petition, AG Mansoor A. Khan submitted that the education authorities wanted to eliminate corruption and use of unfair means in admissions and examinations. The criteria for admission to the two government medical colleges in Karachi — Dow Medical College and Sindh Medical College — was merit and permanent residence of Karachi. The expelled students did not meet either or both of the conditions and usurped the right of deserving candidates. To allow them to benefit from their wrongdoing would amount to putting a premium on fraud, which was not in the interest of education, or the medical profession, or the ailing public.

Advocate Raja Qureshi submitted that the petitioners had been treated as bonafide students for five years and their expulsion at this stage would amount to robbing them of the intellectual property acquired by them during the period. They would suffer irreparable loss if they were not allowed to take the final exam.

APPEAL ALLOWED: Justice Mohammed Ashraf Leghari of the Sindh High Court allowed on Thursday an appeal filed by a convict/appellant, Mohammed Akram, in a murder case and set aside the life imprisonment awarded to him, adds APP.