May 11, 2006	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 12, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, May 10: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) to approach the students who fell prey to an unauthorised medical college to become party in the court’s suo motu proceedings against the college.

A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad and Justice Hamid Ali Mirza also asked the PMDC to submit by May 29 a list of the over 300 students of the Islamabad Medical and Dental College (IMDC) which allegedly falsely claimed to be a PMDC-recognised institution.

A complaint from four students initiated the suo motu case.

During Wednesday’s hearing, the court directed the IMDC chief executive Dr Ghulam Akbar Niazi to provide complete data of the students affected by the college’s non-accreditation by PMDC.

One affected student, Lubna Afridi, also accused the IMDC management of running the institution without proper facilities and faculties and deplored that she was running from pillar to post for the last three years to get her documents back from the college management but in vain.

Appearing on court notice, Secretary PMDC Dr Sohail Karim Hashmi told the court that over 300 students were the victims of fraud and deserved to be compensated.

He assured the court that the PMDC would put advertisements in the newspapers at its own cost to inform the affected students to join the court proceedings.

He alleged that the IMDC management was not ready to close down the college despite the fact that they had established it without seeking any non-objection certificate (NOC) from the council. In case the college is closed down, he said, PMDC would adjust all the students in different medical colleges of the country.

The IMDC management present in the court along with its attorneys, however, failed to advance satisfactory reply when the court asked them to explain as to how the college remained operational for the last nine years without being recognized by the PMDC.

Advocate Qamar Afzal and Imran Aziz, the counsel for the students, told the court that over 300 students were looted by the college management as the institution was illegally imparting medical education since 1996.

Mr Afzal said each student had paid Rs0.6 million despite the fact that the college was being run without recognition. Students who got admission in 1996 are still awaiting degrees.

When the scam of non-recognition surfaced, the chief executives of the IMDC distributed college’s shares among themselves and fled away. Now the institution was being run by a close associate of the “fraudulent gang,” he alleged.

The accused have deprived the students of over Rs180 million so far, he contended, adding the affected students had also filed complaints with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) but to no avail.

A case was registered with the Bhara Kahu police on March 13, 2005, against the chief executives of the college — Dr Ghulam Akbar Niazi, Dr Afzal Khan Niazi, Dr Masood Pervez and Aslam Shami. However, he added, the police instead of arresting the accused shelved the case.

Advocate Mohammad Qayyum Malik appeared for Dr Ghulam Akbar Niazi, whereas advocate Dr Basit represented Aslam Shami. The PMDC was represented by advocate Hashmat Habib.