GUJRAT: A three-member Supreme Court bench on Wednesday ordered the Federal Investigation Agency to seal the Hashmat Medical and Dental College (HMDC), Jalalpur Jattan, and recover Rs48 million fees from its administration, charged illegally by the private institute.

The bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar issued a short order in this regard.

The court in the previous hearing of the case had directed the FIA to submit a detailed report on the fee charged by the college from its students as well as the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) report regarding its inspection visit of the HMDC in March.

The FIA team after conducting a probe into the fee collection from the students by the college had informed the court that the HMDC could not show the fee receipts, whereas the PMDC’s report presented in the court was also against the college.

HMDC had also failed to meet PMDC criteria

The court then ordered sealing of the college and recovery of Rs48m from its administration that the college charged as fees from the students.

However, according to sources, the HMDC administration has convened a meeting of directors to discuss the future course of action. The sources added the college might opt for filing a review petition before a larger bench.

Earlier, in March 2018, the Islamabad High Court had disposed of three different petitions filed by the HMDC management and students of the college for the issuance of a direction to the PMDC to register its batch of 100 students. The pleas also sought court direction to RIPHAH University to let the college students sit in the MBBS exams.

However, the IHC had refused to issue any such direction either to the PMDC or RIPHAH University in this regard.

As per the PMDC report on the inspection conducted on the IHC’s direction in March 2018, the college could get only 414 marks out of 1,000, while it required 750 marks to fulfill the criteria.

The RIPHAH University had also declined to conduct the exams of the college’s MBBS students without fulfillment of the PMDC criteria.

The college’s management then filed a civil petition with the Supreme Court that was dismissed.

Despite this, the HMDC has also enrolled another batch of some 70-80 students for the 2018-19 academic session, while its last batch had yet to appear in the MBBS exam.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2018