KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Friday allowed the petition of the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) and declared as void a set of notifications issued by the provincial government to lower the passing marks of Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT).

Through a short order, a three-judge bench headed by Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro ruled that the impugned notifications were issued without any lawful authority.

“For reasons to be recorded later on, and any order made or directions given therein (if any) this petition is allowed in terms that the impugned notifications are declared as void ab-initio having been issued without any lawful authority,” the short order said.

The PMC has petitioned the SHC against a decision of the Sindh cabinet taken in its meeting held in December 2021 to lower the passing marks for MDCAT-2021 from 65 per cent to 50pc for Sindh.

The bench pronounced its order after hearing the attorney general of Pakistan, advocate general, Sindh, lawyers for the PMC and respondents.

SHC allows PMC’s plea, rules province issued notifications without lawful authority

Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan appeared in court on Friday to advance arguments on the matter.

The federal law officer and counsel for the PMC argued that the provincial government had no authority or mandate to allow students who had failed the MDCAT to be eligible for admission as it was the violation of the PMC Act.

The provincial law officer questioned the enactment of the PMC Act and the Sindh health department and other provincial authorities concerned also contended that the federal government had encroached upon the legislative domain of Sindh by enacting the PMC Act as the subject of education came in the provincial domain.

The PMC had cited the Sindh chief secretary, health secretary, the Jinnah Sindh Medical University (JSMU) Karachi, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medial University (SMBBMU) Larkana and ministry of national health services as respondents.

It challenged the Dec 2 decision of the Sindh cabinet and four notifications, decision of the admission committee and advertisements issued by the JSMU and SMBBMU as well as other actions and steps taken in pursuant of the cabinet decision of lowering passing marks of MDCAT.

The PMC contended that in the MDCAT-2021 a total of 194,309 students appeared and 68,723 students (35.37pc) had passed throughout the country while 34,932 students appeared from Sindh and 7,811 passed with a percentage of 22.3pc.

It further submitted that there were a total of 5,490 seats of MBBS and BDS in public and private sector colleges of Sindh including 2,900 seats in government-run medical and dental colleges and 2,590 in private sector.

The public colleges admission being completed prior to the private colleges and admittedly students of highest merit from Sindh obtaining admission in public colleges.

Thereafter, 4,911 students from Sindh alone would be competing for admission on 2,590 seats in private colleges of Sindh and it still left 2,300 eligible students of Sindh after filling all public and private seats, the PMC maintained.

It further argued that the law did not impose any restriction of domicile for private medical colleges and thus students from anywhere in Pakistan who have passed the MDCAT were eligible to apply, but last year provincial authorities had imposed a ban on non-Sindh domiciled students to apply for admission in private colleges located in Sindh.

It said that this resulted in the lowest merit students getting admission as a large number of high merit students in Sindh came from humble backgrounds who were unable to pay the fees of private institutions.

The petitioner submitted that the Sindh health minister had sent a letter to the PMC president in November 2021 stating that “in view of presumably low number of students form Sindh having passed the MDCAT exam, it was feared that some seats in private medical and dental college of Sindh would not be filled and thus it had been decided in a meeting of vice chancellors of public sector universities and representatives of Pakistan Association of Private Medical & Dental Institutions (Sindh chapter), that to fill total seats of private sector colleges in Sindh, the passing percentage of MDCAT should be reduced from 65 to 50pc”.

The PMC argued that it had sent a detailed reply wherein the concerns of the Sindh government were addressed by concrete facts and data and explained to the provincial health minister that it cannot be acceded, as the presumptive fears were grossly misplaced in view of the fact that there existing a large number of eligible students to fill the seats.

The petitioner further submitted that the PMC had also pointed out that since a large number of high merit students belonged to humble background and were unable to afford the fee of private education, it had set up the National medical scholarship fund with around Rs400 million placed therein to private scholarship and student loans to such deserving students ensuring their ability to obtain the education in consonance with their merit and ability.

It asked the Sindh government to participate in this endeavour to support deserving students of Sindh, the court was told.

However, the PMC argued that instead of abiding the applicable law, the Sindh government showed its intention of establishing its own Sindh Medical and Dental Council and the provincial cabinet had lowered the passing marks in violation of PMC Act.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2022