LAHORE: The Supreme Court on Thursday accepted unconditional apology tendered by Punjab governor’s son Asif Rajwana, also a lawyer, and the vice chancellor of Faisalabad Medical University for interfering in the court’s order about admission to private medical colleges and offering admission to a female lawyer’s acquaintance on condition of not raising the issue before the court.

Advocate Shahid Hamid submitted a written apology on behalf of Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Farid Zafar and said that his client had not violated the court’s order intentionally but in sheer ignorance. He said Mr Zafar had a great respect for the court and never thought of disobeying its orders.

Responding to hard-hitting queries from a two-judge SC bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, the governor’s son said he had family relations with the woman lawyer, Anjum Hameed, and she was just like mother to him. Mr Rajwana threw himself at the mercy of the court, but the chief justice directed him to submit a written apology which he did.

A father tells judges he cannot pay hefty fee for his daughter’s admission

The bench is seized with a suo motu case regarding inflated fee structure of medical and dental colleges in the country.

Meanwhile, Sharif Medial Complex Principal retired Brig Zafar Ahmad appeared before the bench and said he did not receive the court’s notice timely. When asked about the owners of the institution, he said it was a trust and ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif was its chairman.

Although the bench did not seek personal appearance of Mr Sharif, the chief justice observed that he [Sharif] should have appeared on his own as owners of all medical colleges had been asked to appear before the court.

The bench ordered the owners of Central Park Medical College and Amina Inayat Medical College to appear in person along with their affidavits and details about fee structure, admission criteria and facilities being provided to students.

During the hearing, a father told the judges that his daughter had met the admission criteria, but he failed to manage money to pay the hefty fee.

At this, the Pakistan Medical & Dental Council secretary revealed that under the rules, private medical colleges were bound to fill five per cent seats on scholarship, but the council never received any such case from the colleges.

Punjab Chief Secretary Zahid Saeed also told the bench that the government had established an endowment fund for financial support of talented and deserving students. He said the man could be extended financial support from this fund for his daughter’s admission.

The chief justice observed that the court would look into the matter and ensure admission of the girl if she fulfilled the merit. The bench adjourned the hearing to Jan 6.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2017