PESHAWAR, May 5: A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court on Wednesday set aside an order of the provincial health secretary regarding admission of a girl student to Khyber Medical College on a seat reserved for children of overseas Pakistanis.

The bench, comprising Justice Malik Hamid Saeed and Justice Qaim Jan Khan, accepted a writ petition filed by a student, Riaz Ahmad, and restored order of the Joint Admission Committee whereby he was given admission to the college earlier.

The petitioner was given admission by the admission committee on Jan 15. However, another student, Ms Mona Wazir, daughter of Aziz Wazir, gave an application to the provincial health secretary, stating that her marks were more than those of the petitioner's, and that she should be given admission on the reserved seat.

She added that she had been given admission on open merit seats in Ayub Medical College, Abbotabad, and that should be converted to a reserved seat in KMC. Her application was accepted by the health secretary on Jan 20 and was given admission to the KMC on the reserved seat.

Advocate Roohul Amin appeared for the petitioner and contended that once the respondent Ms Mona wazir was admitted against open merit seats in AMC, she had no legal right to claim that she should be admitted on the reserved seat.

He argued that the seats reserved for the Oversees Pakistanis belonged to the federal government and the provincial health secretary had no powers to issue orders regarding those seats. He added that by issuing the impugned order on Jan 20 in favour of the respondent the health secretary had overstepped his authority.