LAHORE, Jan 27: The Lahore Medical and Dental College (LMDC) which committed irregularities in admitting students has sought 'one-time forgiveness' from the Punjab governor.
The request has been made by chief minister's adviser Dr Javed Asghar, himself a director of the LMDC. The University of Health Sciences (UHS) had granted one-year provisional affiliation to the LMDC on a court order but refused to register and examine its students who did not fulfil the admission criteria.
The LMDC had registered, against high dues, over 200 students who had either secured less than 60 per cent marks in FSc pre-medical examinations or merely passed intermediate with arts subjects or were simple matriculates.
The UHS syndicate, in its Nov 19 meeting, had also discussed the irregularities in admissions committed by the LMDC and resolved that the university would stick to the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council rules and give no relief to candidates failing to meet admission criteria.
Dr Asghar, on behalf of the LMDC principal and board of directors, stated in his letter to the governor: "I beg you sir to review the entire record and instruct the university authorities to stop maligning us. I guarantee you that if all the record of all public medical colleges is scrutinized, you will find many students admitted with less than 60 per cent marks, specially those who are admitted against special seats. This argument is not to reduce the gravity of our crime but a basis for an appeal for one-time forgiveness."
The adviser also stated that no FA or humanities group student had ever been knowingly admitted to the college. One student who had submitted a forged certificate had been expelled.
He stated that a lot of misinformation had been circulated by different quarters about the alleged violation of admission policy by the college. He claimed that never in the history of LMDC, any matriculate had been admitted.
He said the graduates of American High School were considered equivalent to FA, FSc since it had 12 grades as against 10 of the Pakistan High School. When contacted, a UHS senior official said the Inter-Board Committee of Chairmen had not given any equivalence certificate to the American High School grades. - Mansoor Malik