LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Thursday declared illegal the present composition of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) and also its 2016 regulations for admissions to MBBS and BDS in medical colleges.

A division bench comprising Justice Ayesha A. Malik and Justice Jawad Hassan passed the order while allowing a number of appeals moved by students and private medical colleges challenging composition of the PMDC and retrospective implementation of its regulations “Central Admission Programme” of 2016.

Announcing the judgment reserved a week ago, Justice Malik said the PMDC had been working under an amended ordinance of 2015, which stood lapsed, therefore, being an unlawful entity all the regulations introduced by the council were illegal.

LHC orders fresh election in three months

“Sections 9 (c), 7, 8 and 11 of the impugned regulations are hereby struck down,” the judge continued to read the judgment.

The bench directed the federal government to hold fresh election of the PMDC within three months in light of the council’s 1962 ordinance. The bench allowed the present cabinet of the council to run day-to-day affairs only till the lawful composition of the medical profession regulator.

It also directed the Council of Common Interest (CCI) to review admission policy as the previous regulations enforced by the PMDC were not approved by the CCI. The bench restored 2013 regulations enabling the private medical colleges to conduct admissions independently.

Advocates Ijaz Awan, Ahsan Bhoon and Abid Saqi had represented the appellants while Noshab A. Khan pleaded on behalf of the PMDC.

The appellants’ counsel had mainly contended that the impugned regulations were framed by the PMDC when its amendment ordinance, 2015 had already lapsed in April 2016 by dint of Article 89 of the Constitution.

Therefore, they said, the regulations 2016 were unlawful and without backing of any law besides being ultra vires to the Constitution as well as PMDC Ordinance, 1962.

About implementation of the regulations, the lawyers said the PMDC implemented the new regulations retrospectively instead of prospectively from academic sessions of 2020–21 protecting and exhausting all the ongoing sessions. They submitted that law had been settled on the point that executive’s actions could not have retrospective effects.

They said drastic changes introduced in the impugned regulations regarding eligibility criteria for SAT-II students had caused extreme frustration as well as it discouraged a large number of aspiring candidates.

The counsel, therefore, requested the court to set aside 2016 regulations of the PMDC for being unconstitutional and unwarranted and framed unlawfully.

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2017