PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday reserved its judgement about around 90 petitions related to the “massive irregularities” in the recently held Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test.

A bench consisting of Justice Abdul Shakoor and Justice Syed Arshad Ali heard detailed arguments of lawyers for different parties, including the provincial government, Khyber Medical University (KMU), Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), Education Testing and Evaluation Authority (ETEA), and different candidates, in the case.

The test conducted by the ETEA on Sept 10 triggered a major controversy as scores of candidates were arrested after being caught red-handed using modern electronic gadgets for cheating.

Several candidates alleged that the use of unfair means, including electronic gadgets, “tainted” the test.

Hears arguments of counsel for govt, KMU, PMDC, candidates

The high court stopped the KMU and ETEA on Sept 15 from uploading MDCAT results until further orders.

Scores of candidates sent applications to the high court’s Human Rights Cell seeking the test’s cancellation over “massive irregularities.” The applications were converted into petitions by the court.

Similarly, several candidates, who obtained high marks in the MDCAT, filed petitions requesting the court not to cancel the test and to direct the respondents, including the PMDC, KMU and ETEA, to declare results.

Advocate General Aamir Javed said the caretaker government in the province had already decided in its cabinet’s meeting on Sept 28 to re-conduct the test through the KMU.

He added that the government had communicated its decision to the KMU.

Mr Javed said a high-level joint investigation team was constituted on the orders of additional chief secretary (home) Abid Majeed, which discussed several aspects of the matter and put forward several recommendations to ensure the future holding of the test fairly.

The AG said a strict action would be taken against all those elements involved in the alleged MDCAT irregularities.

Counsel for the KMU Abdul Munim argued that the university had the powers to conduct the entrance test for medical colleges but it formally asked the PMDC to hold it.

A representative of the PMDC contended that under the law, the MDCAT could not be held afresh.

He said that on Sept 15, a meeting of the council and all relevant vice-chancellors was held wherein the said test was mostly declared fair, whereas recommendation was given for taking action against the responsible officials and candidates.

The candidates, who sought fresh MDCAT, claimed that the respondents had allowed several candidates to use modern devices in the test and thus, facilitating them to cheat and use other unfair means.

They alleged that the test was conducted in such a manner that it gave undue advantage to the candidates, who were allowed to use modern technology, so they didn’t expect that the test results would be fair and transparent.

Advocates Yasir Khattak and Ziaur Rehman Tajik, who appeared for the students opposing the fresh test, contended that the provincial government had no authority to cancel the already conducted test.

They said that the cancellation of the test would discourage the brilliant students, who had achieved high marks because of their hard work.

The counsel contended that in the past when unfair means were used, then action was taken against the relevant students, whereas the entire examination was never cancelled.

Yasir Khattak said several of those brilliant students had obtained top positions in the recently announced intermediate examination results by several education boards.

He added that if the government wanted to re-conduct the test, it should safeguard the rights of those brilliant students so that their hard work should not go to waste.

Parents of several candidates also turned up and said they belonged to poor social background and their children had worked hard for this test.

They said that action should be taken against those who had given millions of rupees for using unfair means in the MDCAT but the outstanding students should not be victimised.

During the hearing, the bench observed that both KMU and PMDC had acted in a non-professional manner in the entire controversy. It wondered why KMU and PMDC didn’t conduct inquiries on their own after the scandal was unearthed and instead joined the inquiry initiated by the provincial government.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2023