PESHAWAR, April 13: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday allowed 41 women to continue their studies in the Khyber Medical College till further orders.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Tallat Qayyum Qureshi and Justice Dost Muhammad Khan directed the provincial government and the administration of Khyber Medical College (KMC) to file comments in reply to the writ petition filed by 41 students.

The petitioners have challenged a notification issued by the NWFP health department in January whereby the girls campus of KMC, situated in Hayatabad, was declared a separate medical college.

Advocate Ijaz Khan Sabi appeared for Ayesha Latif and 40 others and argued that the petitioners had been studying in a recognised college, whereas the newly notified girls medical colleges had not been recognised by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC).

While the petitioners were admitted in the first-year classes at the girls campus, he said, they attended classes in the KMC and the concerned laboratories were also situated there.

He said that all of a sudden the government changed the status of these students and declared the girls campus a separate college.

Advocate Waseemuddin Khattak, who appeared for the KMC, stated that the issue had been taken up with the provincial government and it was expected that the petitioners would be included on the KMC’s strength.

More than a year ago, the petitioners said, the provincial government had established a girls campus of the public sector KMC in Hayatabad township here. They claimed that they had obtained admission in other recognised government sector medical colleges, namely Gomal Medical College, D. I. Khan, Saidu Medical College, Swat and Ayub Medical College, Abbotabad.

The petitioners stated that options were sought from them about joining the girls campus after its establishment and they chose to continue studies in the campus. They stated that they were told that the girls campus was part of the KMC and not a separate entity.

The female students stated that now in January the health department had issued a notification declaring the campus a new entity by the name of Khyber Girls Medical College, which had not been recognised by the PMDC. They stated that they had taken admission in a recognised college and now the government had no legal authority to change its status.

They requested the court to declare the impugned notification illegal and void.