LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has recently dismissed the received petitions challenging the procedures of the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) in conducting the Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT) for 2021.
The PMC conducted the MDCAT from Aug 30 to Sept 30, 2021, daily. The students besieged the test procedure for being contrary to Section 18 (1) of the PMC Act, 2020 and PMC Conduct of Examinations Regulations, 2021 through the petitions.
The petitioners' lawyers argued that in section 18(1) the word "a date" and "single admission test" was written in a singular form not in plural, i.e. "dates" or "tests". Therefore, PMC was bound to hold a single test on one selected date, they said.
But the PMC, through its counsel, rejected the allegations and argued that the phrase "single admission test" referred to the fact that every student would only be allowed to appear in and sit for one MDCAT in a year.
Justice Jawad Hassan observes that the petitioners had failed to make a case for interference by this court within the terminology of Article 199 of the constitution.
He noted that the entire MDCAT process had been published in prints and PMC's website, and applicants from all over the country applied by taking those steps.
Therefore, he held that no illegality had been found in applying the rules, regulations and the Act during the entire process of the MDCAT 2021-22.
