LAHORE: The Lahore High Court recently struck down the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council’s (PMDC) admission regulations for 2019 and directed the University of Health Sciences (UHS) to carry out the admissions process as per previously followed regulations from last year.
Announcing a reserved verdict, Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti allowed several petitions and declared the disputed regulations, namely MBBS/BDS, including admissions, house job, and internship regulations 2019 ultra vires to the Constitution.
Maleeha Syed and other students having dual nationality had moved the petitions challenging the new regulation for being discriminatory and contrary to their fundamental rights.
The petitioners' counsel argued on behalf of the petitioners and stated that the PMDC introduced amendments to the previous regulation through its ordinance promulgated in 2019, changing the basic criteria of admission for overseas Pakistanis in particular.
They said the petitioners passed their O and A levels examination in Pakistan; however, later acquired dual nationality of different countries. They said the previous regulation gave due weight to the performance of students in O and A levels or the regular national scheme of secondary school and higher secondary education.
The counsel pointed out that the definition of dual nationality holder, as per previous regulations, was a Pakistani citizen holding dual nationality with a valid domicile of Punjab, with pre-medical equivalent examination either from abroad or Pakistan, and having passed SAT-II or MCAT. However, they said, the PMDC, through the impugned ordinance, changed the regulations and criteria for the admission for dual nationality holding candidates excluding the result of O-level or matriculation in the calculation of merit for session 2019-20.
The quota given to the dual nationals having better foreign qualification forming an intelligible class for computing merit for admission was also abolished under the challenged, new regulations, they added. The counsel argued that the PMDC unlawfully amended the regulations through an ordinance that was also not approved by the Parliament. They argued that the new regulations could not be applied to candidates who had either already taken admissions or completed their matriculation/O-level before the amendments. They asked the court to strike down the impugned regulations of 2019 for being unconstitutional. However, the judge allowed the petitions and struck down the 2019 admission
