PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday issued a stay order to stop the joint admission committee of public sector medical colleges from canceling admission of 15 students to the Khyber College of Dentistry and the dentistry section of the Bacha Khan Medical College.

The committee has issued notices to these students.

A bench consisting of Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Qaisar Rasheed Khan directed the respondents including the JAC, provincial secretary health and Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) to file comments on a petition on the students’ petition within 20 days.

The students have filed separate petitions against the issuance of notices to them by the JAC asking them to visit the relevant office for collecting their dues and documents as their admissions will be cancelled in accordance with the PMDC directives.

They insisted once they’re admitted to their respective colleges, the admission could not be cancelled. Waseemuddin Khattak, lawyer for the petitioners, said 10 of the students were admitted on self-finance basis in KCD in the 2015-16 session.

PHC asks admission panel, health secretary, PMDC to file comments on matter

He said the students had begun attending classes in Nov 2015 but early this month, the JAC had issued separate notices to them telling them that the PMDC had claimed that the public sector colleges in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were involved in giving admissions to students beyond the authorised limit and therefore, the excessive admissions should be cancelled.

The lawyer said the JAC had asked students to visit the relevant office to get back their original educational documents and the fee they had paid for admission.

He said five other students had been admitted to the dentistry unit of Bacha Khan Medical College Mardan on open merit as well as seats reserved for Fata. The lawyer said the students had also received the impugned notices.

He said the number of seats for each of the public sector medical colleges was mentioned in the Prospectus 2015-16, which was duly approved by the provincial health secretary.

The lawyer said once admissions were given to the students, they could not be cancelled.

He added that even in the previous year, admissions were given on the same number of seats but the PMDC had remained silent and recently, all of a sudden it had raised objection to the number of seats to which admissions were made by the JAC.

NOTICE ISSUED: A high court bench consisting of Irshad Qaisar and Justice Syed Afsar Shah on Thursday issued notice to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa advocate general asking him to appear on Jan 21 to assist the court in the civil judges recruitment case.

Waheedullah and Abdul Nasir had filed a petition against the condition of two years practicing experience in the high court for the candidates to sit the examination for recruitment of civil judges by the KP Public Service Commission.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2016