KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has issued a notice to the Sukkur IBA on an application filed by the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) seeking the record of its Combined Competitive Examination conducted in 2024 after earlier orders of the SHC about reassessment of answer sheets were suspended.

The SPSC submitted that since the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) had suspended a series of orders passed by the SHC, including revaluation of the answer sheets from Sukkur IBA, the vice chancellor and the university have no longer any lawful basis to retain, re-assess or in any manner disturb sealed answer sheets.

While disposing of a set of identical petitions filed by several candidates against the CCE-2024 results, the SHC had ordered sending the answer sheets of candidates to the Sukkur IBA for reassessment on June 30 and had also called for accountability of the SPSC, asking the provincial government to look into the affairs of the commission, fix the persons responsible for manoeuvring results, passing ineligible candidates and recommending them for recruitment.

The SHC had also passed several interim orders on different dates in these petitions, including sealing of the entire record of CCE-2024 and production of the same before the court and subsequently, handing over to Sukkur IBA.

Citing the VC of the Sukkur IBA University as respondent, the SPSC through its counsel Raj Ali Wahid has filed an application before the SHC and submitted that as the commission and the province of Sindh were aggrieved by these orders, the same were challenged before the FCC and it had suspended through an interim order the operation of all the impugned orders on July 15.

The counsel for the applicant argued that the sealed answer sheets were highly confidential documents under the SPSC Management & Recruitment Regulations, 2023, as no citizen or any institution/commission/authority was permitted to see, examine or analyse such confidential records.

He also submitted that since the Sukkur IBA University was admittedly an institution within the meaning of Regulation 70(C) of the RMR 2023 and the impugned order of June 30 was suspended now, the VC and the university no longer have any lawful basis to retain, hold, examine, analyse, re-assess, open or in any manner disturb the said sealed answer sheets.

The SPSC sought directives for the VC to immediately return the sealed answer sheets back to the commission in the exact same sealed condition or the nazir of the SHC may receive the same and ensure the onward transmission of such answer sheets to SPSC.

The applicant also pleaded to restrain the VC, Sukkur IBA and its officers, agents or representatives from taking any further step in the reassessment or examination of such sealed answer sheets.

After a preliminary hearing, a two-judge regular bench of the SHC comprising Justice Yousuf Ali Sayeed and Justice Adnan Iqbal Chaudhry issued notice to the VC of the respondent university for Aug 5.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2026