RAWALPINDI, Oct 20: The Supreme Court has dismissed the petition of medical college students, demanding that the newly created University of Health Sciences, Lahore, should not be allowed to take their examinations and instead the Punjab University be assigned the responsibility.

The apex court also upheld the decision of exempting King Edward Medical College and Fatima Jinnah Medical College from affiliation with the University of Health Sciences. It was challenged by the petitioners on ground of discrimination.

The Supreme Court decision would affect about 5000 students of medical colleges in the Punjab province.

The dispute arose when the University of Health Sciences vice-chancellor cancelled the affiliation of all medical colleges with the Punjab University on Dec 2, 2002, with the exception of the King Edward Medical College and the Fatima Jinnah Medical College. The UHS had affiliated the colleges with itself and was to issue degrees to medical students.

The students have been opposing the government decision to affiliate medical colleges of Punjab to the newly-established University of Health Sciences.

They contend that the degree issued by the Punjab University is internationally recognised whereas the UHS was not known anywhere.

The Supreme Court full bench, headed by Chief Justice Shaikh Riaz Ahmad upheld the Lahore High Court decision in which it had dismissed 14 writ petitions challenging their affiliation with the UHC.

The SC in its detailed decision ruled that the establishment of the University of Health Sciences is valid. The petition filed by the students of Punjab Medical College, Faisalabad, was heard by the SC full bench and reserved its judgment on September 29.

Rejecting the petitioners’ claim that the establishment of the UHS violated the Constitution of Pakistan, the judgment said: “the University of Health Sciences Ordinance 2002 is not ultra vires of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 or the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council Ordinance 1962. The UHS has been validly established and no exception could be taken to it whatsoever.”

The apex court further ruled that all medical institutions under the administrative control of the provincial government and the medical institutions in the private sector in the territorial limits of Punjab are under a mandate of the new law to affiliate with the University of Health Sciences within such time and on such terms and conditions, which may be prescribed.

The court held that affiliation of petitioner’s medical college, Punjab Medical College, Faisalabad, with UHS has not deprived them from any benefit, which might have accrued to them.

“The UHS is a specialist university which has been established, inter alia, to improve the quality and standard of education and meet the challenges and requirements of changing times and has also been accorded the requisite recognition by Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, therefore their anxiety about the status of the degree of MBBS to be awarded by it is unfounded.”

On the petitioners claim that exemption of King Edward Medical College and Fatima Jinnah Medical College has resulted in discrimination of students of other institutions, the SC bench judged that since the exemption is temporary and the expression “for the time being” in the notification makes it manifest that the exemption complained of is transitory and the possibility of both the exempted medical colleges with UHS in due course of time cannot be excluded. “Needless to emphasise that discrimination does not flow from a transitory arrangement,” it added.