LAHORE, June 25: Punjab Advocate General Syed Shabbar Raza Rizvi informed the Lahore High Court on Wednesday that the provincial government had not exempted the King Edward Medical College and Fatima Jinnah Medical College from affiliation with the UHS.
A full bench headed by Justice Tassadaq Hussain Jilani was hearing the petitions of Allama Iqbal Medical College and two dental colleges’ students against their affiliation with the UHS.
The Punjab University informed the court that it could not conduct this year’s MBBS professional examination of KEMC and FJMC students despite issuing the datesheet since the relevant record had been transferred to the University of Health Sciences.
The petitioners had stated that they were still registered with the Punjab University and could not be examined by the UHS despite compulsory affiliation of their colleges with the latter.
The petitioners’ counsel, Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, claimed that both the KEMC and FJMC had been exempted from affiliation with the UHS and were still affiliated with Punjab University. He also presented the datesheet of MBBS examination to be conducted by the Punjab University for students of these two colleges this year. He alleged that the petitioners’ colleges had been singled out for affiliation without any justification.
When inquired by the court regarding the factual position, Punjab University counsel Dr Basit stated that the university was not in a position to hold the MBBS examination of students currently studying at KEMC and FJMC. “The entire record related to registration and other matters has been transferred to the UHS on the orders of Punjab governor.”
Responding to the same query, the advocate-general said the provincial government had not issued any notification to exempt the KEMC and FJMC from compulsory affiliation with the UHS, and neither did he receive any instructions in this regard.
UHS counsel Najamul Hassan Kazmi said that under the UHS Ordinance 2002, all medical colleges of the province had been affiliated with the UHS. He claimed that the FJMC management had written a letter to the UHS, acknowledging its affiliation with the latter.
Justice Jilani observed that it was strange that none of the KEMC or Nishtar Medical College students had moved the court against the affiliation of their colleges with the UHS. Mr Ahsan submitted that petition of the students of Nishtar Medical College was being drafted and would be filed shortly.
This statement of the petitioner’s counsel infuriated the UHS counsel who alleged that the former was “sponsoring” petitions of different medical colleges and misrepresenting the orders of Supreme Court issued earlier this month. The two lawyers exchanged harsh words, and the court had to interfere to settle things down.
Earlier, while responding to propositions raised by the court regarding the administrative authority of UHS vice-chancellor to issue a letter for compulsory affiliation of all the medical colleges of Punjab with the UHS, Mr Ahsan maintained that he was not authorised to do so. He claimed that under the provisions of the Pakistan Medical Dental Council Ordinance 1962, no medical institution could affiliate any other college with itself unless the federal government recognised that institution through the PMDC.
“Recognition by the federal government is a prerequisite for the UHS to issue compulsory affiliation orders to other medical colleges,” he claimed, adding that mere affiliation of the UHS with the PMDC was not sufficient for it to become a degree-awarding institution.
When inquired as to what should the PMDC consider before recognising the UHS, the counsel replied that a campus, faculty and laboratory facilities were important factors in this regard.
Mr Ahsan suggested that a corporate body be created through the UHS Ordinance to own the UHS property, but it should not issue degrees without the permission of federal government.
He argued that the compulsory affiliation of medical colleges with the UHS was violative of Articles 9, 18 and 25 of the 1973 constitution.
He would make more arguments on Thursday (today).