LAHORE, July 8: The University of Health Sciences agreed on Tuesday to act as an examining body only for the students of BDS, MBBS fourth and final year for the next two years and give up its degree-awarding status in favour of the Punjab University.
The varsity submitted a written statement to this effect to a full bench, headed by Justice Tassadaq Hussain Jilani, hearing the petitions filed by the students of certain medical colleges challenging the compulsory affiliation of their respective institutions with the UHS.
On the last hearing, the bench had proposed that keeping in view the different administrative and academic problems likely to be faced by it, the UHS should act as examining body only for the next two years and let the PU issue degrees to the MBBS and BDS students in the meanwhile.
The proposal was partially accepted as only the BDS and MBBS fourth and final year students were allowed to get their degrees from the Punjab University after being examined by the UHS.
After hearing both the sides the bench reserved its verdict.
UHS counsel Abdul Hafeez Pirzada submitted that the board of governors of the varsity would strictly act in accordance with the additional recommendations of the court made in its final judgment with regard to the UHS Ordinance.
“I pledge while standing in the court that none of the petitioner students would be victimized by the UHS during their examination for having moved the LHC against the compulsory affiliation,” he said in response to an apprehension raised by the petitioners’ counsel Aitzaz Ahsan.
Earlier, while filing the written statement Mr Pirzada requested the court that the document should not be given to press. After going through the statement, the court informed all the parties that the UHS had partially agreed to the proposal.
Mr Ahsan also agreed to the court’s proposal regarding the role of the UHS as an examining body. He submitted that it was an apt interpretation of the UHS Ordinance by the court. The impugned statute did not specify the time frame for the affiliation of medical institutions with the UHS.
He contended that no one had objection to the affiliation of the respective faculties of these colleges with the UHS but the students should be allowed to earn degrees from the Punjab University in the meanwhile.
Justice Jilani observed that a temporary arrangement has been proposed in deference to the petitioner students. Though no time frame had been mentioned in Section 37 of the UHS Ordinance regarding the completion of the compulsory affiliation process, the entire law could not struck down on this basis.
The court asked the UHS counsel to specify the date of the examination both for the BDS and the MBBS students so that they could make preparations after having spend a lot of time in litigation.
Mr Pirzada submitted that the MBBS examinations were already scheduled for December 2003, which according to him was sufficient time for preparations. The UHS needed three weeks for holding the BDS examinations which were deferred in the last week of June on the court’s instructions.
The court inquired from Punjab Advocate-General Syed Shabbar Raza Rizvi as to under what law had the governor exempted the King Edward Medical College and the Fatima Jinnah Medical College from compulsory affiliation with the UHS.
The AG replied that the governor had used his discretionary powers under Section 5 of the UHS Ordinance and such action was not discriminatory.
The AG also submitted that the de’ Montmorency College of Dentistry had not been exempted from compulsory affiliation since it was an autonomous institution and had a separate dean. The students of de’ Montmorency had claimed that since the dean of the KEMC and their college was the same, they should not be affiliated with the UHS.
Punjab University counsel Dr Basit maintained that both the KEMC and the de’ Montmorency were being managed by one dean and the AG had made a wrong statement in this regard.
“The PU has always regarded the de’ Montmorency College as an integral dental component of its medical faculty,” he submitted while challenging the government to place any material on record to contradict his statement.
Later, Mr Aitzaz gave rebuttal to the submissions made by the UHS counsel.