ISLAMABAD, April 16: The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld its judgment that no quota will be allowed to the armed forces and doctors’ children in medical colleges admissions, however, the students who have already been admitted will not be affected.

A bench, comprising Chief Justice Shaikh Riaz Ahmed, Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui, Justice Qazi Mohammad Farooq, Justice Rana Bhagwandas and Justice Mian Mohammad Ajmal, set aside earlier decision of the court regarding reserved seats for foreign students and Afghan refugees.

The plea of students from Kashmir and Northern Areas was also accepted and now the judgment will not apply to them.

Senior Advocate K.M. Samdani appeared on behalf of the AJK students and submitted that candidates from Azad Jammu and Kashmir had been lumped together with backward areas, while they must be treated separately.

Attorney-General Makhdoom Ali Khan submitted that AJK had no medical college and its students were not a party in the earlier case.

About foreign students, the AG submitted that the apex court had struck down the quotas as discriminatory, but all countries had quotas for foreign students.

There was no discrimination involved because foreign students did not compete with the locals, he said.

The AG submitted that quota for the children of armed forces personnel might be allowed because their duty involved frequent transfers.—APP