LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Friday suspended an order of the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) regarding suspension of the admissions to the private medical colleges.

Representing dozens of students, Advocate Safdar Shaheen Pirzada contended before the court that the PMC had issued its impugned directive on April 29, 2021 without due consideration of the fact that the students had been enrolled after paying fee and their classes had commenced.

He said the new admission process in the medical colleges not only jeopardised the educational career of the students but also amounted to wasting their time as the academic calendar for the current year for MBBS/BDS professional examination would end in December 2021.

The counsel argued that the PMC had cancelled the admission for session 2020-21 on the pretext of complaints against the private colleges regarding irregularities. He said the act of the PMC did not justify restarting the entire admission process.

Justice Ayesha A. Malik suspended the impugned decision of the PMC and observed that the new admissions shall not be started until the next date of hearing. The judge also sought a detailed reply from the commission by June 26.

remand extended: A judicial magistrate at the Model Town courts on Friday extended the physical remand of PML-N MNA Javed Latif for three days in a case of inciting people against state institutions.

The Crime Investigation Agency police produced the PML-N leader before the court in an armoured vehicle and sought his further custody to complete investigation.

The magistrate extended the remand for three days and directed the police to produce Latif again on May 10. The opposition leader was arrested on April 27.

The Township police had registered the first information report on the complaint of a citizen, Jameel Saleem, under sections 120/120B, 153/153A, 500, 505(i)(B) and 506 of the Pakistan Penal Code. The sections deal with offences of causing incitement against the state institutions, including the army, and promoting enmity between different groups.

In a TV programme, Latif had said that his party would not say “Pakistan khappay” (long live Pakistan) if anything happened to the party’s Vice President Maryam Nawaz.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2021